Sink to the Bottom With You
by Catalina
Summary: In a world filled with bounty hunters, dangerous secrets, and unspoken emotions, Vincent, Yuffie, and the rest of AVALANCHE and the Turks must fight to save the life of the Planet one more time, against an enemy no one would have ever expected existed.
1. The Ninja and the Gunslinger

(Note: The original version of this chapter was uploaded on 10-9-00, but I've found lately that I probably need to address some things for the hapless souls who are just stumbling onto this fic. One, I started writing this fic on a whim, five goddamn years ago. I insert "goddamn" not because I'm angry, but to emphasize that this fic began a long time ago, and I'll admit that I never thought it would go the places it would go. I'm uploading a new version with this note to tell everyone starting to read this that you will notice changes in my writing from this chapter to the most recent one, changes in characterizations and writing style that are probably for the better. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I'm rather embarrassed about how I handled this fic in the beginning. There are dozens of things I'd rather have done differently, and though I do plan on re-editing it, most of things in here are going to remain as they are because most of the flaws would cause deeper cracks in the foundation of the fic if I tried to fix them. I'm not interested in dedicating a lot of time and effort into rewriting the whole fic.

Consider this a warning to expect OOC-ness and odd characterizations in the beginning that diminish as the chapters progress. Comments and criticisms are welcome, of course, but just realize that critiquing these first few chapters is a moot point since I've probably realized for myself all you have to say. Also, this isn't directed at anyone personally; it's just a reaction to a pattern I've noticed among reviewers over the years.)

**Sink to the Bottom With You  
****Chapter One: The Ninja and the Gunslinger**

_It's a reason  
__Why I'm down  
__I am beaten  
__And pushed around  
__It's a ceiling  
__Without a sound  
__Everyone I know  
__Considers me a clown_

"_Why I'm Here"  
__Oleander_

A shadow hung over the docking bay, deeper than the bluest midnight. The sharp tangy smell of seawater permeated the night air like a thick blanket. At first, Yuffie Kisaragi had relished the smell of the ocean so close. At Wutai, if she stood on the top of the Da Chao Statue, she could see the ocean stretching for miles and miles and feel the gentle sea breezes caress her face. It had always given her a sense of peace and serenity, but not now. Nope, right now it felt as if someone had stuffed packets of salt up her nose. Open packets of salt. The saline smell hung so heavily in the night air that she had to resist the urge to hack and cough like she had a frog stuck in her throat.

The full moon was obscured by a flock of thick and bloated thunderclouds that didn't even allow the barest fingers of moonlight to peek through, and Yuffie couldn't decide whether that was a good or bad thing. The utter lack of light hid their hiding spot behind a box of crates well enough, but it also made things a hell of a lot more difficult to see. She could barely see the nose in front of her face, much less the person they were "following."

She turned to her partner for what seemed like the millionth time and said, "Psst! Hey, Vinnie! Any sign of him yet?"

The shadow next to her, the one more ominous than the rest, shifted slightly, and for a moment, she saw a flash of a red bandana covering even redder eyes. "No," Vincent Valentine said shortly, then turned away from her.

Yuffie folded her thin arms across her chest and made a face, shifting restlessly to get the blood flowing back into her legs again. She and Vincent had been in the same crouching positions for what seemed like hours, with Vincent keeping a lookout around the side of the crate while Yuffie tried her best to keep herself entertained (which wasn't working at all). "If he doesn't show up soon," she threatened grumpily, "then I'm leaving."

Vincent didn't say anything so Yuffie continued venting her frustration.

"It's past midnight, and I'm cold and wet and tired and grumpy. Why did dumbass Cloud have to send us here? We could have investigated Midgar just as well as freaking Reno, Rude, and Elena! But no, instead he sends us onboard an old stinky ship to look for some dude that we know next to nothing about. And just when we're about to leave, who shows up but the dude we're looking for! Then we have to stay on the damn ship and let it take us to who the hell knows where we are! And then, to top it all off, Vinnie here decides to push me into the water just as we're getting off—"

Vincent suddenly whirled around, startling her so bad that she jerked away from him, the edge of the Conformer poking one of her numb legs. "Yuffie, be quiet," the older man said calmly despite his sudden motion.

Yuffie scowled, refusing to be intimidated. "Vinnie, I'm cold and I'm wet and my legs are asleep. Can we please go home now? That guy already knows we're here."

"And whose fault is that?" Vincent asked flatly.

"Are you saying it's my fault!" she demanded, squinting at him in the darkness until she could just make out his left claw braced on the concrete between them and his red eyes glittering faintly in the darkness. "You're the one that knocked me into the water, Vinnie!"

"No," Vincent said without a trace of emotion. "You slipped in a puddle and fell into the pool. I had nothing to do with your mishap. And while we're on the subject, our quarry would have no idea of our presence if you hadn't insisted on yelling and screaming after you had your accident."

"It was no accident!" Yuffie insisted, knowing she was whining and not caring. "Someone pushed me and that someone had to be you!"

"I told you before that you slipped in the puddle. All I did was pull you out of the water. Blame me if it will ease your state of mind and keep you from complaining. I don't care either way." He turned away again, the end of his red cloak brushing her leg in the darkness.

Yuffie pouted, but kept her mouth shut. It was bad enough that she was here, even worse that she was here with Vincent. Not that Vincent was a bad guy. In fact, he was okay if you wanted someone who didn't talk much, and he was kind of good-looking in a twisted sort of way, but he definitely wasn't Yuffie's idea of amiable company. Why couldn't Cloud have partnered her up with Tifa, who would probably at least sympathize with Yuffie's soaking wet and miserable condition? Even Cid or Barret would have been better company than Vampire Boy. Cid's cigarettes could drown out the seawater smell, and both of them would have been more fun to fight with than Vincent, whose flat tones and one-word answers tended to kill any attempt at conversation.

"Hey, Vinnie," she said again, glancing at the statue-still shadow next to her.

"Yes, Yuffie?"

"I need to go to the bathroom."

"There's a lovely pool of seawater three steps to your left."

Yuffie's mouth dropped open. "Did the dark and gloomy Vincent Valentine just make a joke? Wow, and I was here to witness it. Tifa and Cid will be so jealous. But that still doesn't change the situation. I have to go to the bathroom!"

Vincent turned to stare at her again. "What do you want me to say, Yuffie?"

"How about, 'Oh, Yuffie, since I know you're wet and cold because I pushed you in the stinky seawater that was probably filled with gross amoebas and who knows what, let me go find you a nice clean hotel where you can rest, eat, and go to the bathroom.' I think you should say something like that, Vinnie."

"How about, 'Piss on yourself'?"

Yuffie's mouth dropped open again, but she managed to sputter out, "That was so rude, Vinnie Valentine! I see you've been hanging around Cid and Reno a bit too much!"

"Actually, I think it was spending two hours with you on a boat and then waiting here with you for one more hour that did the trick."

Yuffie punched him in what she hoped was his shoulder. "You're so mean to me, Vinnie! Next time, leave me in the sea water with the amoebas; I'm sure they'd be better company that you!"

"Forgive me, Yuffie," he said flatly. "I'm afraid I'm not in the best of moods tonight. I'm sorry for insulting you."

"No, you're not," Yuffie grumbled. "But I'll just pretend your apology was sincere. At least we can be cold and miserable together."

Vincent didn't reply; he simply turned away from her and continued to watch for their quarry. Yuffie drew her trembling knees up to her chest and shivered, pushing impatiently at her shoulder-length hair, which she had been allowing to grow out at Tifa's prodding in the year since they had defeated Sephiroth.

The young ninja sighed inwardly and found herself reflecting on all the things that had happened in the past year, something she had started making a habit of. Reeve, formerly known as Cait Sith, was working hard on rebuilding what was left of Midgar. He had taken over the remnants of Shinra, going as far as calling the Turks back in to help. Naturally, and with the Planet's best interests in mind, he had discarded the idea of Mako reactors and was in the process of changing all the reactors into electric generators to power the sectors. The progress was slow, but with Reno, Rude, and Elena to help him out, the former Urban Development manager was optimistic about the future of both the Neo-Shinra and Midgar.

Cloud and Tifa had taken up residence in Tifa's new bar at Kalm. Surprisingly, the two hadn't gotten married as most of the others, Yuffie included, had thought. Though they pretty much lived next door to each other in the rooms above the bar, their relationship didn't seem to be deepening all that much. Both Tifa and Cloud, however, seemed content with their neighbor-like existence, and though Yuffie thought that they should have gotten together, she was happy as long as her friends were happy.

Barret had taken his daughter Marlene and moved to his ravaged hometown of Corel, where he was working on revitalizing the town with the same dedication and uncharacteristic optimism that Reeve had for Midgar. Personally, Yuffie thought he should just put that dump out in the pasture and shoot it, but if that what he wanted to do with the rest of his existence, then that was fine by her. Whatever floats his boat.

Red XIII had returned to Cosmo Canyon, of course, and was in the midst of reading all he could on the history of the Planet, the Cetra, and whatever other bits and pieces of information he had in that old, musty library of his. He would soon be the Guardian of Cosmo Canyon, and the lion-like creature was taking his responsibility very seriously. Yuffie visited him whenever she could and bugged the living hell out of him. Hey, the furball needed a little spark in his life.

Cid had immediately returned to Rocket Town and asked Shera to marry him. He was both surprised and overjoyed when she said yes. Yuffie was surprised, too. If someone who had used to treat her the way Cid used to treat Shera asked her to marry him, she would have told him to shove that ring up his you know what. But she was happy for her friends at the same time. Even from the very beginning, she had felt that Cid and Shera belonged together. It hadn't taken an idiot to see the unspoken attraction between them.

The wedding had been fun, too, with Cloud, Cid, and Reno all a bit giggly and tipsy during the reception after drinking too many shots of whatever it was they could get their hands on. Before the bride and groom had said their vows, however, Cid had been so nervous that he smoked cigarette after cigarette until finally Yuffie and her unwillingly partner in crime, Reeve, had swiped his pack and flushed it down the toilet. That wedding had been one of most fun times of her life. Even if she had to wear that uncomfortable bridesmaid dress that made her feel half naked. The highlight of her evening, aside from watching Reno try to climb up and dance on a table only to fall in a very surprised and very unhappy Barret's lap, had been when she had managed to drag Vincent out onto the dance floor. She practically had to pick him up and carry him, but that had been the best part of it.

Yes, life had been good.

Then one day, out of nowhere, Cloud had called Yuffie on the PHS, sounding extremely morbid for a man who seemed to be leading a very happy existence.

"Hey Cloud! What's up?" Yuffie asked as she lay on her mat, holding the PHS with one hand and juggling a mastered Fire materia with the other.

"We're having problems, Yuffie," he said dully, but the ninja could hear the underlying worry evident in his voice.

"Who? You and Tifa?"

"No," Cloud answered. "Reeve is missing."

Yuffie's heart skipped a beat. She forgot to catch the materia she had tossed in the air before Cloud's previous statement, and the emerald orb plummeted down to smack her right in the middle of the forehead. "Ow!" she cried, but quickly returned her attention to the situation at hand. "What? How can that be? When did this happen?"

"Last night. Reno was going to ask Reeve to go drinking with him and Rude when he heard scuffling sounds in the office. He burst in there, but it was too late. The window was broken, but there was no sign of Reeve or his attacker, whoever he or she was. Reno tried to call someone on Reeve's office telephone, but the lines had been cut and all he got on his own cell phone was static. He and Rude showed up at the bar at dawn today to ask me and Tifa for help."

"Who do you think could have done this?" she asked, trying to keep down the flutter of fear in the back of her throat and ignore the growing lump in the middle of her forehead. "A rebel group? I'm sure that there's plenty of people who would want to kidnap the President of Neo-Shinra."

"I don't know," Cloud said glumly. "There's rebel groups for almost everything, but somehow I have a feeling that this has something to do with Reeve being part of AVALANCHE. I'm calling in everyone and organizing a search. Can you bring all our materia to Tifa's bar in Kalm?"

"Okay," Yuffie said eagerly, surprised at how much she wanted to help. "What do we have to go on?"

Cloud sighed. "Not much, I'm afraid. Me, Tifa and the Turks searched the office, but the kidnapper left no trace of anything. We found drops of blood, however…"

Yuffie swallowed a lump in her throat, and forced herself to ask, "Were they Reeve's?"

"Yeah," Cloud said grimly. "They were Reeve's."

"Crap," Yuffie said, unable to think of anything else to say.

"We had pretty much the same reaction. There were only a couple of drops so we still have hope that wherever Reeve is, he's not seriously injured. But what we're really worried about is the man Rude saw in the remains of Hojo's lab a few hours after Reeve was captured."

"What kind of man?"

"Rude said he was dressed all in black with a ski mask covering his features. He was searching through old files of Hojo's when Rude surprised him. The man ran away and managed to escape through a place that we haven't been able to find yet. Turns out that Reno, Rude, and Elena had seen this man sneaking around before, but he had always run away when they attempted to talk to him. We're calling him the Running Man…"

Which brought her to the present moment, soaking wet and stuck in the docking bay next to a rotting and seemingly abandoned boat that Cloud had wanted Yuffie and Vincent to investigate. Now she had no idea where she was, what time it was, how long they were going to be here, or if they would even get a chance to apprehend the Running Man. All she knew was that she was cold, wet, tired, and ready to let Reeve fend for himself, wherever he was. She had a broken and waterlogged PHS, a rumble in her stomach that sounded every bit as fierce as those damn green dragons at Mt. Nibel, and boy was she ever COLD!

Yuffie shivered again and rubbed her bare arms. She glanced over at Vincent, who despite what he has said earlier, looked warm and toasty in his long red cape and black pants.

"Hey, Vinnie," she spoke up again. "Can I use your—"

Her entreaty was cut short when her dark companion suddenly spun around and clamped a gloved hand over her mouth. Though her first instinct was to struggle until she was released, she quickly repressed it, trusting Vincent's senses and knowing that he rarely touched anyone for any reason. She flicked her eyes to the side and was just able to see a shadowy blur as Vincent shifted closer to her.

"I saw him," he whispered, lips close to her ear. His warm breath against her ear sent pleasurable chills running down her spine. Strands of ebony black hair flopped forward to caress her cheek, and she was suddenly aware of how close he was, close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body. Suddenly, she wasn't cold any more.

"He went down a stairwell to a lower level," Vincent continued, oblivious to the change that had overtaken her. "Just follow me. Got it?"

Yuffie nodded, not trusting her voice.

Vincent removed his hand from her mouth and crept closer to the edge of the crate, peering out from behind it to see that there was no one hanging around the docking bay. He took the Death Penalty from its holster, and seeing this, Yuffie followed in suit with her Conformer, trying to work the kinks out of her muscles as she did so.

Vincent stepped out from behind the crate and into the open, motioning for Yuffie to follow him. The young girl did so, wincing as her knees and back popped loudly, protesting so much movement after being inactive for almost an hour.

Keeping as quiet as possible, she followed her shadowy friend into the darkness until the inky black seemed to swallow them whole.


	2. I Think I'm Paranoid

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Two**

**_ _**

**_I Think I'm Paranoid_**

_"I have to hold onto your nasty claw?"Yuffie Kisaragi_

It took several seconds for Yuffie's eyes to adjust to the darkness, and even then, she probably couldn't see half as good as Vincent.She found herself groping blindly in the darkness with her hands and allowing her fingers to graze the rough, wooden surfaces of crates on all sides of her while she kept her eyes locked on the dark form of Vincent's flapping cape just a few feet in front of her.From what her hands touched, she speculated that they were in a maze of crates and would probably have gotten hopelessly lost without Vincent's unnaturally acute eyes to guide them.All Yuffie could see was dark, hulking shapes all around her that anything could have been hiding behind.

Anything at all…

The instant she starting thinking all paranoid like that, she couldn't stop the sudden influx of thoughts that inundated her mind.She had always been that way: make one crack in the dam that held back her fear and the whole thing came flooding out over her.But this time it was different.An unexpected irrational feeling of terror and foreboding bloomed in her heart, obliterating all other thoughts or emotions in its intensity.All of the shadows seemed to grow eyes and a wide, cavernous mouth that was just waiting to devour her should she venture too close.The concrete beneath her feet suddenly developed holes that led into pits of seawater, pits so deep that even Vincent wouldn't be able to pull her out.She would be trapped down there with only the amoebas and sea serpents to keep her company…

Yuffie suddenly noticed that in her terror, she had allowed Vincent to pull quite a distance in front of her.

"Vinnie!" she hissed, her heartbeat thudding in her ears as she hurried to catch up."Don't leave me back here!"

The moving shadow that was Vincent suddenly stopped moving and faded into nothing in the darkness.She could no longer see which shadow was Vincent.Panic suddenly rose in her, unbidden and uncharacteristic.She hadn't even been this scared when they had been in the North Crater waiting to fight Sephiroth!What was wrong with her now?

"Vincent!" she whisper-screamed in a panic."Where are you?!I can't see you anymore!"

There was a loud crash behind her, and if Yuffie had been thinking rationally, she probably would have realized that the sound was probably just a few crates collapsing, but in her panic, she was being everything but rational and immediately realized that some big sea monster had emerged from the depths of its watery grave to devour her.

She let out a scream of terror and ran forward, dropping the Conformer on the concrete floor.All she knew was that she had to get away; she just _had_ to.There was no other thought running through her panicked mind but escape, and since the monster was behind her, she concluded that running forward would be the most logical way of staying alive.

Unfortunately, she had only taken two running strides before she ran into a different monster, one with red eyes, a crimson cape, and a claw of tarnished gold.It was this claw that immediately flew around her slender shoulders and clasped her to its warm body.Yuffie let out another terrified yelp and raised her fists to pound the creature before she realized that her "monster" was none other than the lovable, huggable…

"Vincent!" she gasped in a mixture of terror and relief, flinging her trembling arms around his slender waist, holding him tightly to her as if she could disappear into his tall figure and be rid of all her fear.Burying her face in his chest, she was ashamed and angry to find herself on the verge of tears.Instead of giving in to them, however, she gritted her teeth and clung to Vincent, her fingers digging into the flesh of his shoulder blades.Her heart thundered in her ears, and for a moment she was afraid she was going to faint.

Vincent's claw tightened its grip around her shoulders with surprising gentleness.Glancing around and seeing no immediate danger, he put the Death Penalty back in its holster and rested his gloved right hand on the bare flesh of Yuffie's lower back.The young ninja was shaking so hard he almost expected to hear her bones rattling.

"Yuffie, it's okay," he said in his soft, deep voice, attempting to offer some kind of solace even though it was out of character for him to do so.He couldn't recall the last time he had held a female like this.All such emotions that were needed to instigate such an embrace Lucrecia had taken with her to her watery grave.

"What happened, Yuffie?" he tried again when the girl didn't respond to his initial statement.

"I-I don't know," Yuffie said shakily, unconsciously tightening her death grip on Vincent's waist.For the first time, she noticed that she could hear Vincent's heart racing in his chest, and she realized that he had received quite a scare, too.That comforted her somewhat to know that the unflappable Vincent Valentine felt fear just like the rest of the little people.

She cautiously raised her head from the folds of Vincent's cloak and craned her neck backwards so she could look into his face.All she could see in the darkness were his red eyes staring down at her impassively."There's something here, Vincent," she suddenly whispered, sweat rolling down her forehead in beads.

Vincent didn't even blink."Of course there's something here," he responded."The Running Man.He went down below."

Yuffie shook her head, dark brown hair sticking to the trickles of sweat that covered her face."No, not just the Running Man.There's something else here.Something we can't see."

"There's no one else here," Vincent replied calmly."A bunch of crates fell over.That's all that happened.Now go get your Conformer.We need to go after that man."

He tried gently to disentangle himself from Yuffie, but the girl suddenly clung to him with renewed vigor, hiding her face in his cloak and squeezing his waist with strength he hadn't known she possessed.She suddenly trembled so hard that she sent a tremor through Vincent's body as well.

"Don't leave me, Vinnie!" she gasped in a panic, her voice muffled in the fabric of his cloak."I'm scared!"

"I'm not going to leave you," he said without a flicker of emotion, but he had to admit that her fear was starting to catch."Just go get your Conformer.I'll be right here."

"@#$& the Conformer!" Yuffie suddenly exclaimed vehemently, voice harsh in her terror."I'll just use my ninja skills!"

"You're being irrational."

"I'm scared shitless!I have a right to be irrational if I want to!"

"You'll need your weapon," Vincent insisted.

"I don't want it!"

"Keep your voice down.What do you want then?"

"I want to go home."

"Besides that."

Yuffie paused."I want you to hold me."

That remark caused a pang in Vincent's heart for some reason, but he quickly shoved it away, telling himself that Yuffie was scared and not thinking clearly."Very well," he said."You can hold onto my hand and we'll go get your weapon."

Yuffie raised her head and stared at Vincent with her stormy gray eyes."Together?" she asked softly.

That pang in his heart again."Yes," he replied."Together."

Yuffie nodded and slowly released her death grip on Vincent's waist, only to grab his right hand in an equally tight clasp.

"Yuffie, I need that arm.That's my gun arm."

She squinted up at him in the darkness."I have to hold onto your nasty claw?" she blurted before she could stop herself.

"Given the circumstances, I'm afraid so."

She didn't say anything, wondering if she had hurt his feelings with her remark about his claw, but then she realized that it was _Vincent_ she was talking to.Vincent wasn't supposed to have feelings, or at least he claimed he didn't, which she thought was the biggest crock of crap she had ever heard.She'd seen him show emotion several times, not much emotion, but he had shown it.Anyhow, she didn't even think his claw was nasty.She thought it was actually kind of cool looking, but she had always gotten the impression that if she grabbed and yanked hard enough, it would pop right off like the arm on one of the action figures she used to mutilate when she was a kid.That was the last thing she wanted to happen when she was scared to even let him out of her sight.

Moving quickly and making sure that one part of her body was in contact with his at all times, she moved around him and grabbed onto his claw, but instead of gripping the hand portion of it, she fastened her right hand up on his bicep, needing to feel his skin and not cold metal underneath her fingertips.With her other hand, she gripped his wrist tightly, the tarnished metal hard and unyielding.She pressed the entire arm against her body and looked up at Vincent's shadowy figure in the darkness.

"Okay," she managed to say through the lump in her throat."Let's go."

Vincent nodded and began to lead her through the darkness back to where the Conformer lay meekly on the concrete floor.He instinctively unholstered the Death Penalty and looked around for any intruders who may have heard Yuffie's cries and come running.The docking bay was silent except for the gentle lapping of the water that the ghost ship rested in.Beside him, Yuffie was breathing heavily, her big gray eyes darting left and right as she apparently searched for whatever she thought was lurking in the darkness.He noticed with some discomfort that she had pressed his arm in the crevasse between her small breasts, and that the warmth from her skin was spreading to his own body.His first instinct was to jerk his arm away before the unbidden emotions started becoming too intense, but he knew that Yuffie wouldn't understand if he tried to explain his actions and would stubbornly refuse to budge if he didn't explain them, so he tried to ignore the flaming warmth of her body and his for the time being.

When they reached the shuriken, Vincent quickly dipped down and picked it up to prevent another argument with Yuffie on how she would have to let go of him to handle her weapon.He held the Conformer out to her, which she took in her trembling left hand while maintaining her grip on his bicep with her right.Vincent realized belatedly that Yuffie was right-handed and now would be forced to throw her weapon with her left, but with her clinging to him like this and not showing any signs of letting go, it couldn't really be helped.

Without a word, he led her to the stairwell that the Running Man had disappeared down.The steps were metal and almost every inch of them was spotted with rust, as if they had some terrible disease.They creaked under the weight of both of the travelers, and Yuffie let out a whimper and huddled closer to Vincent as the darkness all around them deepened.Though Vincent tried to keep his footfalls from making any noise, something that he usually had no trouble at all with, the creaking stairs apparently had other ideas and let out a loud cry every time his metal boots contacted their rusty surface.He just gave up after a while.Besides, Yuffie was making enough noise for both of them.

It wasn't long before they came upon a door constructed out of the same gray metal as the stairs.Like the stairs, it was rusty and practically falling off of its hinges.It would have been easy to simply knock the entire thing down, but Vincent wasn't willing to make that kind of noise yet.The Running Man knew for sure that they were following him due to Yuffie's ill-timed dip in the pool, but he still had no idea where they were or how long it would take them to find him.That gave them a little bit of an edge, not much, but a little.

Examining the door in the darkness with Yuffie practically glued to his side, he saw that it had no noticeable lock.He didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing.Without the presence of a lock, he and Yuffie would be able to get in easily, but the lack of that extra security might mean that whoever occupied this port had nothing to fear from strangers.And Vincent knew from experience that an enemy that lacked fear was a formidable enemy indeed.

He turned to Yuffie and said as calmly as he could, "We've come up to a door.It has no lock.I don't like this, but we're going in to investigate.Are you ready?"

Yuffie stared at him as if he was an idiot, but the fear in her eyes was heartbreakingly obvious."Of course I'm not ready, but let's go ahead anyways."

"Hold onto my belt," he said firmly.

Yuffie balked and gripped his arm tighter."No," she whined."Why do I have to?"

"Do you want to open the door and go in first then?" he retorted.

The girl paused, seriously thinking about just flat out refusing to do as he asked, but she swallowed her fear and gripped his metal belt tightly, chastising herself for being a pansy.She didn't even know why she was so afraid; so far no one had attacked them or made any threatening gestures.Hell, they hadn't seen another living soul besides the Running Man.Vincent was right; she _was_ being irrational._It's all in your head,_ she told herself._It's all in your head._

But in the core of her heart, she knew it wasn't.

_Author's Note:This was a fairly short chapter, right?I'm trying to keep them as short and sweet as possible, but it's not always easy.Writing from Yuffie's point of view is surprisingly fun, and she's not even my favorite character.Anyways, if you're waiting around to see something from Cloud and the others, you won't have to wait too long.I mean, come on.It's just not a fic without the rest of AVALANCHE and the Turks!They should be making an appearance in the next chapter or two, but for now, on with Vincent and Yuffie's deep sea adventure!Thanks to anyone who is reading this! It means a lot to me.Comments welcome.E-mail me ([catalina2717@go.com][1]) _

   [1]: mailto:catalina2717@go.com



	3. The Men Without Faces

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Three**

**_ _**

**_The Men Without Faces_**

_"You sure picked a hell of a time to develop a sense of curiosity."Yuffie Kisaragi_

_ _

_Again I stand against the Faceless Man_

#### Now I saw a face on the water

_It looked humble but willing to fight _

_I saw the will of a warrior_

_His yoke is easy and His burden is light_

_ _

_"Faceless Man"_

_Creed___

**_ _**

Vincent waited until Yuffie had appeared to have collected herself and was holding the Conformer in a ready position.He reached out with his metal arm and wrapped the monstrous digits that passed for his fingers around the rusted doorknob.Yuffie suddenly tightened her grip on his pants, her fingers actually slipping inside the waistband.Vincent stiffened and almost jerked away, the touch of her cold fingers against the flesh of his hip startling him more than anything he had experienced that night.With a great force of will, however, he contained his feelings and turned the doorknob, pushing the rusted metal door open to reveal the room beyond.

Yuffie's heart was beating so loud and fast that it was a wonder it didn't create echoes.Her breath caught in her throat as the door slowly swung open, fully expecting to see some sort of gross, sea monster waiting with its maw gaping wide, but instead all she saw was a featureless room that was completely devoid of furniture except for a single wooden table and a pair of chairs.A lonely light bulb hanging on a rusted, time-devoured cord illuminated the room with its dim glow, revealing a spiral staircase of metal stairs tucked away in the corner like a neglected pet.The room smelled of seawater and smoke, but Yuffie had never seen a more beautiful sight in her entire life.

"Light!" she cried happily."I see the light!"

She released her grip on Vincent and was about to bound into the room when his metal arm suddenly shot out and snagged her around her waist, yanking her back against his chest.

"You should know better than that," he murmured into her ear again, holding the Death Penalty in front of him as he surveyed the room."What if there had been an assassin hiding in the corner?"

"You're overreacting, Vinnie," she grumbled, relaxing against him, all her past fears sounding petty now that she was in a room with light.His metal arm was cold against the bare skin of her stomach, but his body was warm against her back, and she suddenly wanted nothing more than to remain like this standing in the doorway with the light in front of her and the warm safety of Vincent's presence against her back.

The spell was abruptly broken as Vincent moved away from behind her and walked further into the room, holding the Death Penalty in front of him.A loud clap of thunder suddenly sounded from on deck, and Yuffie hurriedly shut the door in a fit of panic that hadn't quite gone away yet.With the horrible darkness now behind her, she felt almost triumphant, but the feeling of impending doom that she had been getting ever since they had emerged from behind the crate refused to go away, staying in the back of her mind and only emerging once in a while to tease and terrify her before running away like a cockroach from a light.It was starting to get really annoying.

Defiantly switching the Conformer to her right arm, Yuffie turned her back on the metal door and watched as Vincent, satisfied that there was no one in the room, inspected the spiral staircase in the corner.Yuffie skipped over to him, making sure she stayed well within the circle of light from the bulb attached to the ceiling.

"See anything interesting, Vinnie?" she asked, peering over his shoulder.The staircase looked like it had been part of a giant drill that had burst through the wooden floor in a corkscrew motion, going all the way up to the ceiling.

Vincent gestured upwards with his claw."There's a trapdoor up there, but I can't see any way to open it."

"Did you try pushing it?" Yuffie asked smartly.

"Yes," he answered patiently."It doesn't budge.Either it's not even a door, or something is holding it in place from above.My guess is that the latter scenario is correct."

Yuffie tuned him out like she always did when he started speaking in a language that didn't sound like English."So which way did the Running Man go?"

Vincent shrugged his broad shoulders."Only two ways he could have gone.Up or down."

Yuffie looked at her feet to see that the staircase spiraled down into an eerie glowing breed of darkness.Leaning over the hole, she could see that there was some sort of greenish light at the end of the staircase, and she caught a whiff of some ominous scent that awakened an alarm deep within her soul, a danger-sensing part of her brain that had lain dormant until that smell entered her nostrils and penetrated her consciousness.She hurriedly backed away.

"Well," she said in a falsely cheerful tone."Since we definitely don't want to go down there, let's just climb up and give this little trapdoor another shove now, shall we?"

Vincent stared at her."We're going down," he said flatly.

Yuffie scowled, trying to ignore the fact that her heart was starting to pound in terror again."What's this 'we' stuff?I sure as hell don't want to go down there."

"Fine," Vincent said, taking a step onto the metal staircase."I'll go down.You stay here."

Yuffie nearly panicked.He was going to leave her here!No, he wouldn't; he was just bluffing.Vincent was good at that.That's why he always beat Cloud and the others at poker!But this time he had to be kidding, right?Well, two could play at this game.

"Fine," she said matter-of-factly."Maybe I will stay here.If some monster comes up and tries to eat you, just scream really loud and maybe if I'm in a good mood, I'll go back outside, jump back into the water, and try and swim to the shore to get help.Other than that, take your time."

She glanced down nervously to see how her little speech was affecting Vincent.He didn't even look like he was paying attention.All she could see in the faint green light was the top of his dark head and his crimson cape billowing behind him as he descended the staircase.Yuffie waited for a grand total of two seconds before she knuckled under.

"Goddammit, Vinnie!" she called desperately."Wait up!"

She took a quick but fearsome step onto the stairway, trying to ignore the feeling that she was going to fall, and began to descend at break neck speed.The winding design of the stairs soon made her dizzy, and the eerie green light all around her was making her feel light-headed but she continued to rush downwards, watching her feet the entire time, only intent on catching up with Vincent.

"Vincent!Vincent!Vincent!" she chanted, the sound of her own trembling voice offering her a sense of comfort."Wait for me or you'll regret the day you met me!If you leave me behind, I swear I'll—"

She let out an involuntary cry of surprise as Vincent's form suddenly appeared in front of her, bathed in the creepy green light, his red eyes staring at her impassively from his deathly pale face.Under the light, however, the flesh looked a pale minty green that for some reason didn't seem nearly as horrible as the light from which it had been derived.

"Yuffie, be quiet," Vincent urged tonelessly, his voice betraying neither annoyance nor exasperation.

She put her hands on her hips, trying to fight down the fear that was fluttering rapidly in the back of her throat."Why?The Running Man already knows we're here."

Vincent turned away and started descended the stairs again, his boots making no sound at all against the dark metal."I know that," he responded without looking back at her."I'm not expecting on apprehending the Running Man anymore.I just want to see what is down here."

"You sure picked a hell of a time to develop a sense of curiosity," Yuffie grumbled, keeping her eyes fixed on Vincent's flowing red cape as it brushed the stairs behind him.

"Allow me to rephrase myself," he replied."I'm looking for a way out of here."

"A way out of here?" she echoed nervously."But the boat is outside."

"We're not taking the boat."

"Why not?" she whined, knowing she was sounding like the brat that everyone thought she was and not caring.

Vincent suddenly stopped and spun around so quickly that Yuffie narrowly avoided falling over him.His red eyes suddenly bore into her frightened gray ones with an intensity that made her back up to the step above her."What's wrong with you, Yuffie?" he demanded, and the girl thought she could detect a hint of frustration in his tone."You couldn't wait to get off that boat and now you want to go get back on?You complained endlessly about being behind the crate and now when I say that I'm looking for a way out of here, you keep on complaining?You're just not happy unless you're complaining, aren't you?"

Though Yuffie continued to fidget nervously, a spark of anger burst through her slowly building terror."I'm scared, Vinnie!" she snapped."I already told you so quit rubbing it in my face!I just want to go home and leave this place behind me.And besides, what do you care about whether I complain or not!Just ignore me like everyone always does!You don't care about me so just leave me alone!"

"You want me to leave you alone?" Vincent asked, his eyes burning into hers though his tone remained flat.

"No!" she exclaimed, forgetting her anger when faced with the prospect of him abandoning her."Don't leave me alone!"

"Then quit complaining and being nuisance while I look for a way out of here," he deadpanned and without another word, turned and started descending the stairs as if nothing had ever happened.

Yuffie followed him meekly, focusing on the way his ebony black hair floated against the crimson of his cape so she wouldn't have to look at the light that was getting steadily brighter.Though she wouldn't have admitted for anything, but his treatment stung.His words had cut to her to the bone and made her feel useless even when people had said meaner things to her in the past that she had just laughed off._Added baggage,_ she thought with an intense sadness, _that's what everyone thinks I am.I just wanted to help find Reeve, and all I'm doing is dragging everyone down.But I can't help it if I'm scared.The thing is that I don't know why I'm scared._

Everything from the green light originating from some nameless source below them to the ever thickening smell that was seriously beginning to get to her spoke of danger and monsters from tales she heard old crusty sailors in the Turtle's Paradise bar talking about, monsters unheard of for centuries but that everyone knew still existed, watching and waiting for their moment to rise from the murky depths…

Yuffie shook her head wildly to fling the thoughts from her mind and pushed impatiently at her hair.It wasn't like her to be this paranoid about anything.She thought it had something to do with the fact that she hated riding ships in the water and now she and Vincent were practically going so deep into the earth that if she knocked down the walls around her, gallons of seawater would pour in.But the young ninja knew it was something else, something she knew was there and sought to grasp, but couldn't no matter how hard she tried.

Instead of dwelling on these thoughts that only sparked more terror in her already jittery mind, she watched Vincent as he continued to descend the steps in front of her, unperturbed by the glow and smell of the spiraling staircase.The greenish blue light added more colorful tones to his already blue-black hair, and Yuffie suddenly wondered if those black locks were as soft as they looked.The green light seemed to embrace Vincent's entire form eagerly, making him into something that resembled a god, maybe the god Sephiroth wanted to be.Sephiroth, who now somewhere that Yuffie didn't even care to think of instead of a Promised Land full of…

"Mako!" she suddenly exclaimed.Vincent didn't even turn to look at her."This glow reminds me of Mako!" she continued, caught up in her discovery."It's the same color and everything!Do you see it, Vinnie?"

Vincent nodded, and she was surprised to see that he was even listening to her."Yes, I think there may be a reactor down here.That's the first intelligent thing you've said all evening, Yuffie."

"So we're back to making fun of me?" she snapped.

"On the contrary, I'm trying to give you a compliment."

For some reason, Yuffie flushed slightly at this, but continued, "Well, while I'm in the middle of a brainstorm, do you happen to notice that smell?"

Vincent paused."Yes.It's a most peculiar smell, unlike anything I've ever come across before.I don't like it."

"Me neither," Yuffie agreed nervously."Does Mako smell like that?I haven't been in too many reactors in my lifetime."

"No," Vincent replied."Whatever that smell is, it's not Mako."

"Maybe rotten Mako then?" she asked timidly, making a poor attempt at humor to a man who practically had none.

Just as she had expected, Vincent responded flatly, "Mako doesn't rot, Yuffie."He abruptly lifted his head and cocked it to the side."Do you hear that?" he asked softly.

Yuffie balked."W-What?"

Vincent stopped moving and listened closer, his ebony black hair spilling onto the shoulder of his cloak."It's sounds like someone beating a gong…or a beating heart.I think there might be something alive down here.Something big."

Rampant images of sea serpents and monsters with huge mouths filled her head, and Yuffie pushed them away frantically."Don't say that, Vinnie!Don't even think that!"

Vincent didn't reply; instead, he just resumed walking down the staircase with a nervous Yuffie just a step behind him.Below them, they could see that the winding stairs abruptly ended after descending down into what looked like another room.They still couldn't, however, see any source for the Mako-colored light that permeated the staircase.If Yuffie didn't know better, she would have thought that the metal walls around her were generating that light.

When they reached the bottom of the staircase, Vincent raised the Death Penalty and Yuffie followed in suit with her Conformer.Allowing Vincent to go into the room ahead of her, she watched as he glanced at his surroundings with an expert eye.Only when he had lowered his gun did she dare to venture forward, her heart pounding in her chest.

She found herself in a room that was quite different from the one with the light bulb, which was far above them now.The floor was made of wooden planks that creaked beneath her yellow sneakers, but the walls were constructed of some smooth stone that she had never seen before.Its surface was shiny and reflected the light that occupied the room, the same color of light that had permeated the air in the staircase.

"Yuffie," Vincent called."Over here."

The girl tore her attention away from the wall and quickly scampered over to stand close to Vincent, who was staring at a pair of tunnels in front of him.The light coming from the left tunnel was brighter and more intense than the one in the right.Also, some sort of white veil, stained green by the Mako glow, had been draped over the right tunnel like a curtain, reminding Yuffie suddenly of a dressing room.The sheer material billowed in an unseen breeze.

"Which way do we go?" Vincent pondered, more to himself than to her.

"Neither," Yuffie responded promptly."Let's go back up."

Ignoring her, Vincent stepped forward and took a few steps into the left tunnel, sniffing at the air and touching the surface of the stone walls.

"The air in here is slighter colder," he announced, coming out of the tunnel."Indicating that it leads deeper into the earth.That smell and the light are also stronger, as I'm sure you have noticed.The beating sound is also louder."

"Let's not go rushing down there," Yuffie said nervously, wringing her hands together."I'm not at all interested in find whatever is making that light or that smell."

"It may be a perfectly natural occurrence," Vincent said, approaching the other tunnel."Sort of like the Mako fountain in the Nibelheim mountains or the materia formation we saw before the WEAPONS emerged from the North Crater."He suddenly stopped talking and lifted the end of the veil thing, and Yuffie saw dark stains on the underside that the eerie glow had hidden before.

"W-What is it?" she stuttered.

"Blood," Vincent said grimly.

Yuffie's breath caught in her throat."B-Blood?" she stammered."Is it Reeve's?"

Vincent shook his head."I don't know.I don't think that—"

A loud grinding sound suddenly cut him off, and Yuffie looked around wildly for the source, her heart stopping when she found it.

"Oh no!" she cried."Vincent!The stairs!Someone's pulling them up!"

The spiral stairs were indeed moving upwards, rapidly disappearing into the stone ceiling in a corkscrew motion.If they didn't hurry, they would be trapped down here!Yuffie rushed over and jumped up, grabbing onto the bottom step as it pulled further off the floor.

"Come on Vinnie!" she cried, holding out her free hand.Vincent was already headed towards her, his cape flapping behind him.

It was at that instant that a section of the luminescent stone wall literally disappeared, just vanishing into thin air and leaving a gaping hole in the wall.Yuffie felt her heart plummet to her feet as she caught sight of three bald men dressed in all black rush from the opening and descend on Vincent, all brandishing guns like old pros.

As Vincent whirled to face off against his attackers, Yuffie cast a panicked glanced up at the ceiling, which was slowly but steadily getting closer and closer.If she was hanging off of the last step like this when it reached the ceiling, she was going to end up like the squashed tomato Don Corneo had wanted her to be a year before.

"Vincent!Hurry up!" she cried wildly, wanting to escape but not wanted to leave her friend, as dull and stoic as may be, to face the assailants by himself…

The dark man didn't even glance at her."Just go, Yuffie!" he cried, raising the Death Penalty and firing at one of his attackers."Find a way out and tell the others about this place!"

Ambivalence tore at Yuffie's heart and mind.Logic screamed at her, telling her that it would do no good if both she and Vincent were killed or captured.If at least she escaped, she could bring Cloud and the others back here and free Vincent…if he was still alive.Then the soft, clear voice of her heart rose up in her, speaking and not screaming.Singing and not talking.Telling her gently of things and emotions and concepts that her mind could never grasp in a million years.

Vincent…

In a split second, Yuffie made her decision.She released her grip on the ascending staircase and landed on the wooden floor with a thud.The spiral stairs vanished into the ceiling with a clang of metal, eliminating one escape route.She saw that Vincent was locked in desperate battle with two of the assassins.The other one was lying in a heap on the floor, a pool of blood slowly forming beneath him.The two remaining attackers had managed to somehow corral Vincent into the corner and, instead of shooting, were pounding on him with the butts of their guns, a most peculiar tactic for men who seemed to be skilled in the use of firearms.The Death Penalty lay on the floor not far away, but unreachable to Vincent for the time being.

Seeing that her companion was about to be overcome, Yuffie pulled back her arm and launched the Conformer smoothly at Vincent's attackers.It struck the nearest one in the back, opening up a shallow cut.

The man didn't cry out or even clutch at the bleeding wound.Instead, he turned around quickly and advanced towards Yuffie.The girl was just about to throw the Conformer again when she looked up and got her first good look at the man's face.

He had no face.

Instead of eyes, nose and a mouth, the man only had small depressions like miniature craters in his pink flesh.The entire warped monstrosity of what she had once thought to be a man's face was really just a mound of featureless pink clay molded into an abomination that just happened to resemble a man.And the greenish blue light that filled the entire room with its ghastly glow only made her attacker's appearance more revolting.

"Grossness!" Yuffie exclaimed."What the hell are you guys?!"

But of course, the man didn't have a mouth to answer with.He just continued to advance towards Yuffie, the mound of flesh that passed for his face locked onto her slender form even though he had no eyes with which to see her.He raised his gun menacingly.

The young ninja sidestepped his lunge easily, kicking him in the side as she did so.The Faceless Man counterattacked with surprising swiftness for a man with no eyes, hitting the corner of her thigh with the butt of his submachine gun.Yuffie cried out more in surprise than pain and retreated a couple of steps, trying to get far enough away so she could fling her weapon at him.The man, however, had different ideas and followed her closely, matching every kick she sent in his direction with a quick but painful counterattack with his own, his faceless head causing great unrest in the ninja and much as his silence did.It felt as if she were fighting a machine.She would have done better if he had at least made some sort of noise, maybe a muffled grunt or growl.Just because he didn't have a mouth didn't mean that he didn't have vocal cords, right?

She was so unnerved by her opponent that she allowed her guard to slip.The Faceless Man swooped in with amazing speed and swung his gun at her head.She jerked back at the last moment, avoiding a blow to the temple, which would have knocked her unconscious, but took the brunt of the blow to her left cheekbone.The force of the impact made her head snap to the side and she fell backwards, dropping her Conformer in the confusion.Pain, clear as daylight, assaulted her senses.She tasted blood in her mouth and for a moment, she feared that she was going to black out, but then she flopped over onto her back and caught sight of the Faceless Man looming over her, raising his gun to deliver the final blow that would send her falling into darkness.

Yuffie lifted her right leg and struck him as hard as she could between the legs, a blow that probably would have left any human man crouched on the floor in complete agony.The Faceless Man, however, didn't seem to feel her blow.As he raised his gun, Yuffie closed her eyes tightly and waited for the pain to come.Instead, she heard the sharp crack of a gunshot and the sound of something hitting the floor with a hollow, thumping sound.

Silence fell._Wow,_ she thought, _I never knew that the path to the Lifestream would be so…quiet and boring._Maybe she had missed the scenic route somewhere.

"Yuffie?" a deep voice asked.

Hey, that sounded an awful lot like…

She opened her eyes.An ominous but familiar figure loomed over her, concern in its red eyes and a huge mass of midnight black hair spilling over one shoulder.

"Vincent!" she cried happily, ignoring the pain in her cheek."You're okay!"

She immediately hopped to her feet and tackled him with a hug, flinging her arms around his neck.Vincent grunted in pain, apparently trying not to let her hear.

Yuffie hurriedly backed away, cheeks flushing with shame."I'm sorry!" she gasped."Are you hurt?"

"I'll live," Vincent said dismissively.He reached out and grasped her face gently with his claw, turning it to the side so he could examine her cheek.

"Am I bleeding?" she asked dumbly."Is the wound fatal?"

One corner of his mouth turned up in a "Vincent" smile."No.But the Brother of Battle has blessed you with a kiss."

"What?" Yuffie asked, totally confused.

Vincent released her, satisfied that she was okay."Nothing," he murmured."I'll tell you later.We need to get out of here.Where there's three of these monstrosities, there could be three hundred more."

Yuffie shuddered and picked up her Conformer."Typical Vincent mentality.What do you think they are…or were?"

Vincent looked impassively at the three corpses, all who sported bullet wounds from the Death Penalty."I don't care to find out," he said flatly."Let's just get out of here."

Yuffie looked around the room."How?The stairs went bye-bye, and I sure as hell am not going through either of those tunnels!"

"Then we'll go through the door they came out of."

"B-But that ludicrous!" she sputtered, appalled that he would even make such a suggestion."You said there could be three hundred more just waiting for us!"

Vincent stared at her."Would you like to try the tunnels then?"

Yuffie's heart stopped at the very prospect."No!"

"Then let's go."

With a whoosh of his cape, he strode over to the Faceless Men's secret entry and took a step in, apparently listening for any sounds of approaching feet.Yuffie scampered up behind him, her paranoia returning now that the adrenaline from the battle was ebbing.To her right, the light from the left tunnel pulsed suddenly, calling to her, beckoning to her.She unwittingly let her gaze drift into the Mako-colored light that seemed to reach out its arms easily to welcome her, to accept her.A wave of that strange odor hit her face, and her hair ruffled in an unseen breeze.With an enormous act of will, she turned her face away and followed Vincent into the secret tunnel, making sure she stayed close behind him.

Unlike the other two tunnels, there was no strange green light contorting and dancing for her.Embedded in the ceiling, there were your normal everyday electric lights like the ones in Reeve's office.Yuffie was grateful for that at least, and for the fact that this secret tunnel was not made of the same eerie stone as the Green Room behind her had been.Instead, it was made of brown rock on all sides and looked like the coal mines underneath Corel.

"Hey Vinnie!" she said as they continued to run along."How deep in the earth are we?"

"Deep enough to fall out the bottom," Vincent commented.

"Not funny, Vinnie," she growled, panting for breath even though they had only been running for a few minutes.

"You asked," Vincent responded flatly.

Yuffie wanted to come up with some snappy comeback, but instead she decided to concentrate on breathing and keeping her feet running.Normally, she liked to think of herself as being in good shape, but tonight had been emotionally and physically taxing.Her legs were covered with bruises from the Faceless Man's counterattacks and her cheek was hurting like a bitch.All she really wanted to do was curl up and rest for the next forty years.

After five more minutes of running, her side began to develop a pain that rivaled the one on the left side of her face and she called out to Vincent, "Can we rest for a little while?I'm about to collapse!"

"We're running on an incline," Vincent answered, sounding only slightly winded."If we keep at this pace, we should make it to the surface."

"Easy for you to say, Mr. Daddy Long Legs," she snarled, though she really wasn't in the mood to argue.

After another five minutes of nonstop running and nothing to do but stare at the rocky walls or watch Vincent's dark hair flop around his back, Yuffie's side was one mass of agony.She was about to just leap on Vincent's back and have him piggyback her out of here when suddenly he came to a halt.Yuffie crashed into his back and almost fell over, heaving for breath.

"What is it?" she gasped, her legs feeling numb and watery.

"Decisions," he said simply.

Confused, Yuffie peered around him and saw that the next part of the tunnel branched off in three different directions, each path looking the same.

She let out a long string of curses that would have made Cid proud and kicked the nearest wall with her yellow sneaker, earning her an aching pain in her foot for her troubles.

"I've had it with this place!" she snapped after she was done ranting."I'm just going to sit here and wait for God Almighty to send down one of his angels to escort me down the right path.And I'm going to have a word with Mr. Cloud Strife if I make it out of here sometime in the next year!"

"Would any of those angels you were talking about happen to be lacking faces?" Vincent suddenly asked, his eyes locked onto the tunnels.

"Cut the mystical crap, Vinnie!" she snapped, then quickly shut her mouth when she saw what he was talking about.What appeared to be an entire army of the Faceless Men was running straight towards them down the first and middle tunnels.Only the last one was clear.

"The third tunnel, Yuffie!" Vincent cried."Run!"

The ache in her legs forgotten, she took off like a shot with Vincent only a step behind her.The stretch in front of her was blessedly clear of any of the faceless monsters, but that small comfort was negated by the fact that she and Vincent had an entire army of the little boogers right behind them.

"Hey Vinnie!" she called over her shoulder."Why didn't they just shoot us?They had guns!"

"They must want us alive," he answered breathlessly.

Yuffie didn't reply, needing all the breath possible just to keep air flowing in and out of her lungs.She couldn't help but wonder who sent the Faceless Men after them.Or had they come after the two intruders themselves?They sure seemed more like mindless machines that sentient creatures that thought for themselves, but she could be wrong.And what part did the Running Man have in this?So many questions and so little answers.

It seemed as if they ran for hours with Yuffie in the lead, Vincent behind her, and en entire legion of Faceless Men following them relentlessly, never seeming to tire.Yuffie's face and back were soon soaked with sweat, and behind her, she could hear Vincent's labored breathing.And to make things worse, ten minutes into the third tunnel with the incessant pounding of the Faceless Men's feet roaring in their ears, the lights above them went out and the entire tunnel was plunged into darkness.And with the darkness, came the paranoia and terror.

But just as Yuffie was about to start freaking out, she felt a cool, salty breeze hit her sweaty face.

"We're almost out!" she cried to Vincent, getting a second wind."I can see light up ahead!"

Vincent only grunted in response, but Yuffie didn't care.They were going to get out!She forced her arms and legs to pump faster and heard Vincent's harsh breathing as he too picked up speed.

Yuffie burst free of the dark tunnel going full speed and narrowly avoided taking another dive into yet another pool of seawater.She skidded to a halt and examined her surroundings.They were in another tunnel, only this one was made of concrete and had a ceiling that towered above her head.To her right, the tunnel opened up into the deep blue sea.She could see the dark nighttime waters of the ocean tossing and turning in the storm that had finally blown in.Wind whistled through the concrete tunnel, and as Vincent burst free of the tunnel behind her, a flash of lightening suddenly illuminated the room as bright as day.

Sitting in the pool of seawater that served as a miniscule docking bay was a black and yellow jet ski with the words Black Stinger emblazoned in bright letters on its flank.

Yuffie turned to Vincent and smiled evilly.

He stared at her, his red eyes shimmering in the darkness."Oh no," he said.

"Oh yes!" she exclaimed, leaping agilely onto the jet ski and exalting, "Yes!Some dufus left the keys in the ignition!We're out of here!Climb on Vinnie!"

"I'm driving," he said firmly, refusing to board.Sitting between two crates for two hours with a seasick Yuffie was annoying, listening to her gripe for one more hour was even more annoying, but Yuffie with a new toy that moved at very high speeds was just flat out dangerous.

Yuffie rolled her eyes at how stubborn he was being."Quit being an ass, Vinnie," she snapped."Get on unless you _want_ them to catch up!Besides, you have to shoot those freaks with your little pop gun if they decide to follow us."

Vincent boarded the jet ski with great reluctance and slipped his arms around her narrow waist."Do you even know how to drive one of these things?"

Yuffie shrugged, her dark hair bouncing on her slender shoulders."How hard can it be?"

_ _

_God help me,_ Vincent thought silently as the jet ski called Black Stinger roared to life.

_e-mail _[catalina2717@go.com][1]

   [1]: mailto:catalina2717@go.com



	4. Missing Comrades

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Four**

**_ _**

**_Missing Comrades_**

_"You sent _Yuffie_ to check on a _boat_?She's probably somewhere in that cave blowing chunks all over the floor."Reno_

_ _

_Put your head on my shoulder, baby_

_Things can't get any worse_

_Night is getting colder sometimes…_

_Life feels like it's a curse_

_I can't carry these sins on my back_

_Don't wanna carry any more_

_I'm gonna carry this train off the track_

_…Gonna swim to the ocean floor_

_ _

_"Swim"_

_Madonna_

"Hey Tifa, you okay?"

Startled, Tifa Lockheart turned away from the window of her bar to see the muscular form of Cloud Strife leaning against the doorframe, his huge Ultima Weapon strapped to his back.

She gave him a weak smile."I'm alright, Cloud.Did you and Barret find anything in Junon?"

He shook his head and ran a gloved hand through his wild blond spikes, looking just as troubled as she was feeling."Nothing at all," he said glumly."I practically interrogated everyone in town and no one has seen anyone matching the description of either Reeve or the Running Man."He sighed and unstrapped the Ultima Weapon, leaving it on a table nearby.

"I really thought I would find some trace of them in Junon," he said dismally, stretching in such a way that Tifa's attention was drawn to the way the muscles of his bare shoulders bunched and flexed.In her opinion, Cloud was the exemplar of male beauty.Big Mako blue eyes.Wild yet soft blond hair.Short, cute nose.A mouth that could smile more easily than frown.A body of composed of steel muscles underneath smooth skin.The man of her dreams, but that was the kicker._Of her dreams._If only she could just work up the courage to say the words, then her dream could become a reality…if he was willing to meet her halfway.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts away and found Cloud staring at her strangely."You okay, Tif?" he asked, concern evident in his blue eyes.

She nodded quickly."Yes, of course."He didn't look convinced, but she rushed on."How did you get back so soon?Junon is quite a ways off.I thought you were going to stay the night?"

Cloud shrugged and walked to stand next to her at the window, his brown boots thudding loudly against the wooden floor."The Turks came by in their chopper and saw me and Barret traveling so they decided to give us a lift."

Tifa allowed herself a small smile."I know.The chopper landed a few minutes ago.Nearly took down two houses with it, too."

Cloud grinned."Yeah, Reno was flying it even though I specifically told him to let Rude do it.But he said that if I had a problem with it then my ass could walk all the way home."

Tifa laughed softly."That's our Reno."She looked out the window, her smile fading."Storm's coming.Good thing you _didn't_ walk home."

Cloud glanced at the beautiful young woman at his side, wondering what could be bothering her.Her wine-colored eyes were worried and distant.She fiddled nervously with a lock of chocolate brown hair, the corners of her mouth turned down slightly.It concerned him to see her like this.Tifa was always full of light and laughter, his one and only hope when all the odds seemed against him and the world was falling down around his ears.She was his stable one, his constant, the one thing that he could always hold onto, no matter what the circumstances.God, how he loved her.If only he could find the words to say it…

"Tifa?" he said softly."What's wrong?"

She carefully avoided his gaze, knowing that she could easily fall into the depth of those beautiful Mako blue eyes, lakes she could bare her soul to and drown all her sorrow in."Nothing's wrong, Cloud," she said reassuringly, forcing a smile for his sake."I'm just worried for Reeve and all…"

Cloud leaned closer to her, trying to get her to look him in the eye."I know there's something else," he said softly."I'm not moving from this spot until you tell me what it is."He grinned suddenly."And you know what a stubborn ass I can be."

Tifa couldn't resist smiling back, as powerless to his smile as she was to his blue eyes.But her smile quickly faded as she lowered her head and said quietly, "I was calling up everyone on the PHS to see how they were doing."

Cloud raised an eyebrow, not comprehending."And?" he prompted gently.

"I couldn't raise Vincent or Yuffie," she whispered, her throat suddenly thick with emotion."Not a dial tone or anything.Just utter silence.I have a bad feeling about this, Cloud.What if something happened to them?"

He put an arm around her shoulders, peering into her worried face."I'm sure they're fine, Tifa.I sent them to investigate that ghost ship off the shore of Midgar.They probably fell into the water and their PHS broke.Knowing Yuffie and those yellow sneakers of hers, she probably slipped and pulled Vincent down with her.That's all.You know that Vincent and Yuffie are harder to kill than that.Don't be so worrisome, woman, or you'll work yourself into an early grave."

Tifa smiled at his poor attempt at humor."I know, but I just can't shake the feeling that something's wrong.I'm afraid they'll just disappear like Reeve…"

Cloud was about to say something comforting when a loud clap of thunder drowned out his words.He looked at the window just in time to see a torrent of rain slam against the glass, individual raindrops beating incessantly against the opaque surface like demons begging to be let inside to work their ghastly deeds.

"It's really coming down hard," he commented.

Tifa leaned against his chest and said softly, "That's another thing I'm thinking about.Vincent and Yuffie alone in that hidden cave with nothing but a ghost ship to keep them company, watching the ocean outside the entrance, watching the tall waves slam against the rocks as the rain starts to flood the cave…"

_ _

_She's really worried,_ Cloud realized._It isn't like her to worry this much.Something has to be wrong.She must sense something that the rest of us don't._

He knew from experience that Tifa had intuitive instincts to rival Vincent's.That's probably why she was able to run bars successfully.She was an excellent judge of character and was able to tell which costumers would cause trouble and which ones wouldn't.Not just anyone could do that.It also took a lot to worry his childhood friend; she usually left the brooding to Cloud, Vincent and Red and focused on keeping the team's spirit up.When Tifa got overly preoccupied about something that he wasn't even considering a problem yet, that was usually Cloud's cue to start worrying too.

He tightened his grip on her shoulders and said soothingly, "Don't worry about Vincent and Yuffie.As soon as the rain lets up, I'll take the Tiny Bronco away from Cid and go investigate the cave myself.Everything's going to be okay, Tifa."

She lifted her face and finally met his eyes, and when Cloud saw the hope fluttering with its fragile wings in those burgundy orbs, he felt a warmth in a section of his heart that he didn't even know existed.He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss into her hair, breathing in the deep scent of her shampoo as well as her own personal feminine scent.

Tifa sighed contentedly and pressed her face against the warm flesh of Cloud's neck, feeling that sense of hope and inner peace return as she rested in the circle of his arm.God, could he even conceive of how much she loved him?Without him near her, close to her, she would just…die.She inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of him that she loved.For some reason, Cloud always smelled of some sort of candy.Very fresh-smelling.Peppermint, maybe.

Outside, thunder crashed with a horrendous cry that rivaled the screams of the Planet.Both Tifa and Cloud jumped slightly, pulling away from each other like two teenagers caught using the school's broom closet for a make-out room. Lightening flashed erratically outside the window, illuminating the room with its blinding light.They could see the ocean beyond Kalm churning almost angrily, waves rising and falling like gypsy dancers.The whole picture made for very disconcerting scenery, and for some reason almost crushed the fluttering hope where it struggled to remain aloft.

Finally, Cloud tugged gently on Tifa's arm, "C'mon.The others are all here.Maybe they've heard something from Yuffie and Vincent."

Mutely, Tifa nodded and cast one last fearful glance at the raging storm outside before following him out the door and into the main room of the bar.She'd closed down her business temporarily so that it could serve as a sort of base of operations.They usually used Reeve's office for such a purpose, but no one felt comfortable anywhere in the Neo-Shinra building for the time being.Tifa and Cloud had readily volunteered the Final Heaven bar, letting their friends, old and new, eat their food and drink as much as they wanted.

When she and Cloud entered the main room where the others were sitting around idly, Reno, who was in hog heaven with a beer in his hand and more lined up on the bar waiting for him, immediately grinned and slung an arm around Tifa's slender shoulders, making a point to ignore the fierce glare he received from Cloud.

"Hey, babe," he greeted."Miss me while I was away?"

Tifa was about to open her mouth to snap at him when Rude said, "Leave her alone, Reno.You're making Cloud angry."

"Yeah Reno," Elena echoed from her place at the bar next to Rude where she sat sipping from a Coke can."Though it would be fun to watch her kick your ass…again."

Reno scowled as Tifa and Cloud walked away from him and sat down at one of the tables across from Barret."Some friends you guys are," the redheaded Turk grumbled."Just for that I'm not going to sit next to you."

Elena rolled her brown eyes."Oh woe is we.Whatever will we do, Rude?"

"I've got dibs on his beer," Rude commented, a rare spark of humor in his deep, level voice.

Reno's amazing aquamarine eyes narrowed, but he kept his mouth smartly shut and plopped down in a nearby chair, taking a sullen swing from his beer.

The door suddenly burst open and Cid ran in, his flight jacket soaked to an even deeper shade of blue and his goggles splattered with raindrops.

"Hot damn!" he exclaimed, shaking his head like a dog and sending water flying everywhere."It's rainin' cats and dogs out there!"

"Watch where you shake dat water, foo!" Barret exclaimed in annoyance, putting one large hand in front of his face to deflect the shower of flying water droplets."You gettin' Tifa's floor all wet and soggy!"

Cid cast a guilty glance at Tifa and shoved his hands in his pockets."It was wet anyways," he grumbled, the "Cid" version of an apology.

Tifa waved her hand dismissively."That's okay, Cid.Cloud will mop it up later."

Cloud's mouth dropped open in such a comical expression of indignation that she laughed and poked him in his belly as snickers spread across the room.

Cid, secretly relieved that he had been forgiven, strode across the room and flopped into a chair, immediately lighting up a cigarette and sending a long column of smoke spiraling towards the ceiling.

"Good lord," he said with relief."It's a damn good thing these suckers didn't get wet.Don't know what I would have done without 'em.Let me tell ya, an entire day flying the Highwind by yourself with barely any time to scratch much less take a break to smoke is the worst kind of hell."

"Did you find anything?" Tifa asked hopefully.

Cid shook his head glumly."Not a damn thing."

"Not even in Costa del Sol?" Red asked from his place on the floor at Reno's feet.

The pilot made a mean face at the soon-to-be Guardian of Cosmo Canyon."I told ya, I didn't see shit.I even got off and asked everyone there if they had seen the Running Man or Cat, but no one had seen a thing."

"Same thing at Junon," Barret added grumpily, apparently angry that he and Cloud's long and hard search had come up with nothing."I don't see how the Running Man could have gotten himself and that damn cat across the other continent without bein' seen in either Junon or Costa del Sol.It just don't make no sense."

"Remember, Barret," Red pointed out calmly, his one good eye focused on the large man with a keen intelligence."We are still not certain whether or not the Running Man took Reeve to the other continent.He could have disappeared somewhere in the ruins of Midgar for all we know."

Tifa glanced at Rude with a flutter of hope in her eyes."Did you guys find anything in Midgar?"

Rude looked at her, and though no one could see his eyes through his dark sunglasses, they all got the impression that he was reluctant to disappoint Tifa."No," he said after a brief pause.

Tifa's face fell.

"But there's still a lot more area to search," he said quickly."There are a dozen places he could hide.We're not giving up."

Reno snorted, the effects of the alcohol already beginning to take its toll."Rude, we searched that place high and low.Even our resident bloodhound couldn't find anything."

Red stared up at Reno impassively."It's true that I could detect no scent outside of Reeve's office, but I assure you that I am not entirely infallible."

"Is it possible that the Running Man could have no scent?" Cloud asked.

Red hesitated, his face revealing none of his inner thoughts, but his flame-tipped tail started to twitch faster, a sign indicating that he was nervous."I suppose it is possible," he said uncertainly."However unlikely.Almost everything has a scent.And if something doesn't, you can be certain that it is not something that this Planet meant to be in existence."

"Something out of nature," Reno mused, a surprisingly deep thought for one so intoxicated and seemingly shallow.

Cloud rubbed his face with his gloved hands and struggled to gather his thoughts.A feeling of helplessness and worry for his missing comrades kept getting in the way, but he asked Tifa, "Did you find out anything at the Chocobo Ranch?Unless the Running Man swam across the ocean, he had to have taken either a gold chocobo or some kind of boat."

Tifa shook her head, long brown hair shimmering in the lights."Nothing," she said simply.

"Hey!" Barret suddenly exclaimed."Cloud, didn't ya send Vincent and Yuffie to see about some kind of boat?"

Cloud glanced at Tifa, and they exchanged a fearful look."Yes," he said slowly."There was an abandoned ship in a hidden cavern in the mountains near Midgar.I thought it to be a ghost ship, but I sent Vincent and Yuffie to check just in case they might find something."

"You sent _Yuffie_ to check on a _boat_?" Reno asked incredulously."She's probably somewhere in that cave blowing chunks all over the floor."

"That's disgusting, Reno!" Elena exclaimed, her pretty face twisted in revulsion.

"Reno just says things that suit his nature," Red said flatly.

While Reno pondered dimly over whether or not the red beast was insulting him, Cid glanced around the bar blankly.

"Hey!" he said."Where the hell are Vince and the brat?They haven't come back yet?"

Tifa wrung her hands together."No," she said quietly."They haven't come back.I can't raise them on the PHS either."

"Maybe due to the storm," Rude said.

Cid snorted, blowing smoke out of his nose.He shook his cigarette in Rude's direction, ash drifting onto the tabletop."Not with the chips I installed, baldy!No little shitstorm like this could mess up the reception on any of our PHS thingies."

"None of you all have heard from them?" Cloud asked, grabbing Tifa's hand and holding it tightly before she could start chewing on her fingernails, a childhood habit that she sometimes, but rarely, regressed to doing when she was nervous or incredibly worried.

Cid and Barret exchanged glances and shook their heads.Red, Rude and Elena also made negative gestures.Reno just burped loudly, and Cloud interpreted that as a "no."

Barret suddenly pounded the table with his gun arm, upsetting a couple of empty bottles."Goddamn!" he cursed."Now they're missin'!We gotta go afta them!"

Cloud shook his head adamantly, sending Barret a stern glance."Vincent and Yuffie are _fine_," he insisted pointedly, not wanting to make Tifa any more worried than she already was."They're probably just trapped in the cave by the storm."

"And what we gonna do?" Barret demanded, not getting the message."Jes leave 'em in there?!I don't think so, Spike!"

"I think they'll be fine," Rude suddenly said calmly.

"Yeah," Elena chimed in."Vincent used to be a Turk."

"And?" Barret snapped."That somethin' to be proud of?"

Elena scowled at him."Better a Turk than a terrorist."

"Okay, okay," Cloud interrupted, sensing an impending fight."You guys quit arguing.We're going to check on them once the storm let's up."

"But they might not be there when the damn storm lets up!" Barret said angrily.

Cid sent a stream of smoke in his friend's direction."Just calm your ass down," he snapped."Vince knows what to do in all kinds of situations.Don't know about Yuffie, but I'm sure Vince will be able to take care of her."

"Besides," Elena spoke up, apparently trying to optimistic, a rare trait in a Turk."Can't Vincent just morph Chaos and fly them out of there?"

Reno laughed."Yuffie gets airsick, too.I'm sure Vincent doesn't want puke on his lovely purple hide."

"Would you quit it with the stuff about vomit!" Elena snapped.Reno only laughed.

"Hey, Cloud," Cid asked curiously."Why did you stick Vincent and Yuffie together in the first place?You know that they both work better by themselves.Yuffie's probably buggin' the living crap out of Vince as we speak."

"I think they complement each other nicely," Cloud responded, a bit testy from having one of his decisions, albeit a relatively minor one, called into question."Vincent keeps Yuffie in line, and Yuffie keeps Vincent from getting a little too…detached and callous towards the situation."He suddenly grinned."Besides, guys, admit it, Vincent is the only one Yuffie can't steal anything from.He's too watchful to fall for her tricks."

"But shouldn't they be back by now?" Tifa fretted."The cave wasn't that far away.If Cid said that the storm can't interfere with the PHS, then something must have happened to them."

"Maybe they found what they were looking for…or it found them," Reno suddenly said, looking into his almost empty beer bottle thoughtfully as if he could see all the secrets of the world in the swirling brown liquid.

"The hell you talkin' 'bout, Carrot Top?" Barret demanded in annoyance.

Reno shrugged."Maybe they found the Running Man…or the Running Man found them."

Silence fell.The only sounds were the raining beating against the building and the thunder rolling angrily across the countryside, the dark forces of nature trying to find a way into the bar.Smoke from Cid's cigarette was gathered around the ceiling, the overhead lights mingling with the misty particles and giving the entire room an eerie, ghostly look.No one dared to speak.

Then Tifa said softly, "I hope they're alright."

e-mail [catalina2717@go.com][1]

   [1]: mailto:catalina2717@go.com



	5. Vincent and Yuffie's Great Escape

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Five**

**_ _**

**_Vincent and Yuffie's Great Escape_**

_"Oh my god!I almost fell in the water with the sharks!"Yuffie Kisaragi_

_ _

_Action boy now_

_Action girl now_

_Be prepared to surf across the ocean_

_Be prepared to take a hit_

_Be prepared to go for it_

_Be prepared for a sneak attack_

_Be prepared_

_Just don't look back_

_ _

_"Are You Ready?"_

_Devo_

**_ _**

"Whoo-hoo!" Yuffie cheered even as seawater sprayed her in the face and went up her nose."Having fun, Vinnie?"

"Loads," Vincent answered dryly, holding onto her slender waist for dear life as the Black Stinger blasted its way across the turbulent sea with a kamikaze Yuffie Kisaragi at the controls.Though she was seasick as a dog on ships of any kind, driving the jet ski apparently didn't faze her the least bit.She had sailed out of the tunnel and into the pouring rain going at break neck speed with a severely uncomfortable Vincent hanging onto her.Now she was squeezing every ounce of speed out of the engine as she skimmed and barreled her way on the ocean's surface, oblivious to the angrily churning thunderclouds and flashing lightening that seemed close enough that they could reach out and touch them.

Vincent, however, was not having such a good time.Though he could see perfectly at night due to Hojo's twisted experiments, several factors, namely seawater, raindrops, and Yuffie's flapping hair, kept flying into his eyes and obscuring his vision a great deal.And he had also been given the dubious honor of sniping out the small squadron of Faceless Men that had obtained jet skis and were following them in the same relentless way in which they had pursued the two travelers in the tunnels.

"Vinnie!" Yuffie suddenly yelled, trying to spin around to look him in the face."Are you gonna shoot those faceless freaks or just let them catch up to us?"

Instead of answering, Vincent twisted around and took in the layout behind him.In between the churning waves, he could catch glimpses of the Faceless Men riding jet skis identical to the one Yuffie was piloting.Because of the abominable weather conditions, he couldn't tell how many of them there were, but from what he could see of them, he didn't like.They drove the jet skis quickly but expertly, weaving around waves and sometimes even submerging for a few minutes to reemerge much closer to the Black Stinger that Yuffie and Vincent were fleeing on.Nevertheless, they were closing the distance and closing it fast.

Vincent's only consolation was that the Faceless Men hadn't used their submachine guns, which they had strapped to their backs.A bullet wound now would knock the two escapees into the water and leave them helpless prey for the Faceless Men…if a shark didn't get them first.If Vincent was going to shoot them, he would have to do it now before they closed the gap.

"Yuffie!" he cried, removing his right hand from her waist."Hold this thing steady!"

"Easier said than done!" she yelled back, trying to be heard over the thunder and the roar of the Black Stinger's engine."Have you seen some of these waves?!"

"Just do the best you can!" 

Removing the Death Penalty from its holster, he raised it and took aim along its long barrel.Vincent was an excellent shot even back when he was human, and the Death Penalty was the most powerful gun he had ever handled, but he doubted even the bullets it discharged could pierce a ten foot wave and kill a target on the other side of it.Like Yuffie, however, he was just going to have to do the best he could.

In a break between waves, he quickly centered a Faceless Man in his sights and fired, but it was that instant that the Black Stinger hit a wave, and the bullet went wild.Unfazed, Vincent reloaded the Death Penalty and aimed again, blinking seawater out of his eyes.This time the bullet flew straight and true.But even though the Faceless Man had no eyes, it somehow saw the bullet coming and suddenly veered to the left, the metal slug sailing harmlessly past.

After attempting to take down the same Faceless Man in five more shots and failing each time, Vincent began to realize that his attempts were in vain.A mixture of the bouncing jet ski, the tall waves, the needle sharp raindrops and the preternatural reflexes of the Faceless Men kept him from getting off a clear shot.The need to reload the Death Penalty every time he fired was also slowing down his progress.Finally, after his tenth attempt, he managed to strike one of the Faceless Men – he no longer knew if it was the same one he had been firing at all along – in the chest, directly where its heart should have been if it were human.But like Yuffie's low blow in the Green Room, the injury seemed to have absolutely no effect on it.The Faceless Man jerked back from the force of the bullet, and a dark substance that Vincent assumed to be blood flew from its chest and splattered the churning waves all around it, but the monstrosity gripped the handlebars of its jet ski and just kept on coming.

Tossing his hair out of his eyes, the dark gunslinger grimly lowered his rifle.Vincent's suspicions were finally confirmed.In the battle of the Green Room, he had managed to take down the Faceless Men at close range with an almost point blank shot to the head or a surprise attack from behind.Any other attacks he had made had seemed to have no effect on them.And now shooting them from a long range gave the Faceless Men too much time to sense the bullets coming, providing them with an opportunity to evade the attack.Whatever these creatures were or once were, he now knew that headshots were maybe the only way to kill them.

This new information severely limited his options.A headshot would be nearly impossible to pull off in these conditions.He could try using his materia, but he thought that if bullet wounds in the chest didn't even slow them down, then magic might not have much of an effect either.Besides, most of the powerful materia had been distributed to the others under the belief that their missions might be considerably more dangerous than the one he had Yuffie had agreed to undertake.For a moment, he entertained the notion of morphing Chaos and attacking them from above, but with monstrous waves grabbing at him constantly and a torrent of rain plummeting from the sky, he knew that such an assault would probably be in vain.

Things were starting to look bleak.

"Hey Vinnie!" Yuffie suddenly called, jerking the handlebars right to avoid taking the full brunt of a wave."Did you get them all?"

"No," Vincent said, still watching and waiting for one of the Faceless Men to emerge.They had all disappeared behind the waves for a moment.

"How many are there left?" Yuffie demanded, nervous that Vincent had fired so many shots and hadn't been able to get them all.She knew from experience that even when blinded, Vincent rarely missed his target.

"As many as there were to begin with," he answered flatly.

Yuffie's mouth dropped open."What?!" she echoed incredulously as the Black Stinger crested over one of the smaller waves."You mean you didn't even get a single one of them?!"

"You have to shoot these things in the head."

"So shoot them in the head!" she exclaimed shrilly, holding her breath as a wave washed over them."Blow their nonexistent faces off!" she continued, spitting water out of her mouth.

"They keep using the waves as cover."

Yuffie studied the watery terrain in front of her and tossed her sea and rainwater sodden hair out of her face."Well, they won't be able to do that any longer.The wind is calming down.No more big, big waves to deal with."

Vincent didn't reply, only kept his eyes focused on the waves he felt were hiding the Faceless Men.In a matter of seconds, the wind had died down almost entirely, and the ocean stopped rolling so angrily and retracted its towering waves sheepishly, exposing the Faceless Men's positions.

There were only five of them, spaced evenly out in what was probably some sort of strategic formation.Vincent wondered dimly if these things had some unseen way of communicating with one another or if they were being manipulated by some other force greater than them.He didn't take long in his reverie, however, because the Faceless Men suddenly did something that made the human part of him, the one that felt fear and emotions, shudder and freeze with a sense of foreboding.

In unison, each of the five Faceless Men reached behind themselves and took their submachine guns out of their holsters while holding their jet skis completely steady with only one hand and little effort.Vincent's heart began to pound in apprehension as they all raised their guns in perfect timing with each other, taking aim…

The stormy night was suddenly alive with a constant barrage of gunfire.The dark waters all around Vincent and Yuffie spat little exclamatory streams of seawater up into the chill air as the bullets struck their raindrop battered surfaces.The bursts of yellow fire leaping from the barrels of the Faceless Men's guns flashed like lamplights on the road to Hell, intending to guide and deliver the two would-be escapees into damnation.

"Oh my god!" Yuffie exclaimed fearfully, chancing a glance behind her."Are they _shooting_ at us?!"

"Yes," Vincent said distractedly, crouching down calmly and fumbling with something on the inside of his metal boot.

"What are you doing dragging your ass, Vinnie?!" Yuffie demanded, watching fearfully as the explosions of water began drawing eagerly closer."Return fire!Return fire!"

Vincent straightened up again, and Yuffie pivoted around to see that he had the Outsider clutched in his hand."What the hell are you doing with that puny ass gun?!" she yelled shrilly, thinking Vincent must have left his brain back in the tunnels."Use the Death Penalty, you idiot!"

"Don't call me an idiot," he ordered flatly, keeping his eyes trained on the Faceless Men with their submachine guns."Keep this thing steady."

"No way!" Yuffie exclaimed."We'll be easier targets that way!"

"If you want to live, Yuffie Kisaragi, you'll do as I say."

Yuffie shut her mouth and did as he said, holding the handlebars as steady as she could and trying to ignore the stream of bullets that kept getting closer and closer.Seawater stung her eyes, temporarily blinding her, only to be washed out by the blessed rain and her own tears of terror.Her heart thundered in her chest, obliterating even the equally thunderous roars of the jet ski and the churning clouds overhead, as she heard Vincent fire off several rapid shots into the night, lone staccato sounds of hope that had their salvation riding on them.

Suddenly, there was a great explosion behind her that lit up the night like the fires of Hell, blazing afterimage painting the dark waters with new demonic shades of yellows and reds.For a moment, Yuffie's heart stopped in her chest, as she was sure that the Faceless Men had started throwing bombs at them.But the gunfire started to slack off, and hope with its fragile wings began to flutter in her soul.

"Vincent!" she cried."What the hell happened?!What are you doing?!"

"Blowing up their jet skis," he said calmly.The Outsider barked twice more, and another explosion rocked the night.

Yuffie resisted the urge to laugh at the simple solution and the simple way he said it.Leave it to Vincent to figure it out!The Outsider may have been a puny gun but the shots it fired were powerful – though not nearly as powerful as the Death Penalty – and more rapid than most of Vincent's other guns.Good thing _she_ had let _him_ come with her on this mission.She suddenly had the urge to spin around and give him a good, hard kiss on the mouth for being so smart, but logic kicked in at the last moment, making her keep her grip on the handlebars and keep her eyes trained on the water in front of her.She couldn't help smiling, however, when she thought of how Vincent might have reacted to such a thing.

Two more well-placed shots and two explosions later, Yuffie was daring to think that they were going to get away after all.Then the inevitable happened.There was, after all, still at least one Faceless Man left, and that one Faceless Man still had his submachine gun, and that one Faceless Man was still firing at them.It was only logical that he would hit something at some time or the other.

Unfortunately, that something that he hit was Yuffie Kisaragi.

White-hot pain suddenly exploded in her left shoulder, quickly engulfing her entire arm like a hungry mouth that feeds off of suffering.Red rainwater splattered her face as she screamed and sagged to the side, the Black Stinger miming the motion as she automatically released her grip on the left handlebar.Her head was feeling lightheaded and fuzzy, and the night was rapidly getting darker than it should have been.Shades of yellow and red suddenly ran across her vision as the ocean seemed to tremble underneath her.Her skin was briefly blasted with heat from an unknown source, but was quickly vanquished by the needle sharp raindrops and stinging saltwater that won the battle for domination.Somewhere in the background she dimly heard Vincent calling her name, but she couldn't get her mouth working correctly to tell him that she was alright.She suddenly realized with a start that the rainwater that had hit her face wasn't rainwater at all, but blood._Her_ blood.She had been struck in the shoulder by the Faceless Man's stream of bullets.

Vincent's claw suddenly tightened on her stomach, producing sharp pains that didn't hold a hair next to the soaring agony generated by the wound on her shoulder, but they brought her back from the brink of unconsciousness with the strange sort of urgency that they possessed.The world all around her reemerged into sharp focus.Saltwater stung her eyes.Blood ran down her shoulder in rivulets.The Imps of Pain were doing insane dances on her delicate nerve endings.Vincent Valentine was shaking her and calling her name. 

"Yuffie!" he cried in a voice so panicked that she scarcely recognized it as his own."Are you alright?!Answer me!"

She gritted her teeth against the pain, and managed to force out, "I'm fine.T-The bullet just grazed the skin.No big deal."

As if to prove her point, she ignored the pain in her injured shoulder and reached up to grip the left handlebar once again, determined to show Vincent that she was just fine.Halfway there, however, the pain suddenly became so intense that she nearly blacked out again.With a short but loud cry, she dropped her arm back to her side.

Vincent's metal claw suddenly released its somewhat painful grip on her waist and snaked out to grab the left handlebar, steadying the Black Stinger.

"Hey!" Yuffie yelped, her voice coming out harsher than she had intended."I'm driving here!You just focus on killing the bastard that—"

"Hush now," Vincent said with surprising gentleness, his deep voice a balm to her nerves."All the Faceless Men are no longer a threat.I'll drive now."

"You got them all?" Yuffie asked, still stubbornly keeping her grip on the right handlebar.She had been holding onto it so tightly that she had a feeling that her fingers had locked into that position permanently.

"Yes," Vincent said calmly, his mouth next to her ear.His gloved right hand suddenly appeared in front of her, the dark Outsider replaced by his red bandana, which was dangling from his pale fingers and flapping in the wind."Here," he explained."Use this to bandage your wound.I don't have a Restore materia."

"I told you," she snapped, viciously spitting saltwater out of her mouth."I'm perfectly fine.I'm not a worthless baby made to be coddled every step of the way."

"Take my headband," he ordered calmly, unperturbed by her unexpected angry outburst, which had come as a sort of surprise to her as well as him.

"I don't want your damn headband!" she yelled, as the Black Stinger hit a wave and more saltwater was flung into her mouth and eyes."And take that nasty claw of yours off the handlebar!I said that I'm driving, goddammit!"

It was just then that the Black Stinger struck a wave in an awkward way, pitching violently to the right side.Saltwater found its way under Yuffie's tightly clenched right hand, and it slipped off the handlebar completely.Her legs suddenly went limp as wet noodles, the adrenaline from their great escape disappearing and leaving her as weak as a newborn kitten.To her absolute horror, she felt her feet loosing their already slippery traction on the floor of the jet ski.Her body suddenly sagged to the right side, heading straight towards the dark water that was eagerly waiting for her…

Vincent's right arm fastened around her slender waist with inhuman strength, yanking her back against him while straightening the jet ski with his left arm.In a matter of seconds, they were zipping smoothly across the gently rolling sea with Vincent driving the Black Stinger one-handed and holding a stunned Yuffie in the crook of his right arm.

The young ninja suddenly snapped out of her shocked trance as a loud burst of thunder crackled overhead and lightening shot across the sky, splitting into a million different branches and glinting off of Vincent's metal arm.

"I-I-I almost fell off the jet ski!" she shrieked, her voice sounding shrill and wavering.

"But you didn't," Vincent said clearly, tightening his grip on her waist and resting his chin on the top of her head, which was an easy thing to do, considering that she was nearly a foot shorter than he was.If Yuffie hadn't been in a major state of panic, she would have noticed that Vincent was hugging her.

"Oh my god!" she continued ranting even as her hair, heavy with water, fell over her eyes."I almost fell in the water with the sharks!"

"But you didn't," he repeated calmly.

She managed to twist around and stare up into his face, which betrayed none of his emotions and was facing forwards."I almost died, Vinnie!" she cried again, her gray eyes wide with some warped form of posttraumatic stress.

He glanced down at her, ruby red eyes taking in every aspect of her terrified face that was so close to his.His midnight black hair, unbound by his bandana and soaked with water, clung to the sides of his pale cheeks, a few wayward strands snaking forwards to touch her face, as if seeking to offer her the comfort that their owner couldn't because of his nature.

"But you didn't die, Yuffie," he said softly, oblivious to the rain pounding against his head and the seawater spraying his face."You're safe here…with me."

Yuffie was now experiencing a whole new type of shock.She was suddenly aware that, in spite of the fact that both of them were soaked to the bone with rain and seawater, she could feel the warmth of his body pressed against hers.Raindrops clung to his long dark eyelashes, and his face was suddenly very close to hers, his beautiful garnet eyes never leaving hers.

Once again, it was Vincent who broke the spell, turning his face away and back towards the open sea on all sides of them."Take my headband and bandage your shoulder," he clipped shortly, without looking down at her."It's not a deep wound; all we need to do is stop the bleeding."

"Oh," Yuffie said, suddenly feeling a profound sense of disappointment and incompletion."Okay, Vincent."

Facing forwards again, she slipped his red bandana out of his right hand, which was still locked around her waist, and quickly tied it around her left shoulder.Though she was sure that plenty of saltwater had gotten into the wound by now, the skin around the cut had already gone numb, and she barely could barely feel the pain as she wrapped the red headband around her shoulder with her numb fingers.

With her job done, she sagged warily against Vincent's body, her head resting against his chest.Satisfied that she wasn't going to fall off the jet ski anymore, Vincent removed his hand from her waist and gripped the right handlebar, taking full control of the Black Stinger as it continued across the dark sea, going nowhere and getting there fast.It was then that the full effect of the emotionally, mentally, and physically taxing night caught up with her.Salty tears flowed down her already dripping face, mingling with the rain and seawater on her cold skin.She wrapped her arms around herself, colder than she had ever been in her entire life.Vincent unconsciously scooted forward so that his warm body was pressed more fully against her back, and Yuffie leaned on him gratefully.She felt Vincent's chin come to rest on the top of her dark head, a gesture that she found most comforting even if it had been unconscious on his part.

Even though the thunder and engine of the Black Stinger were still roaring in her ears, and rain and seawater were still pelting her body, Yuffie, nestled against Vincent, felt her eyes grow increasingly heavy.Soon, even given the impossible conditions, she was drowsing against Vincent's tall figure with Mother Nature raging around her.

The next thing she knew was that somewhere in a world of raindrops and rolling thunder adding to the deadly countenance of a murderous ocean mother with dozens of secrets long unspoken hidden in her womb, a man whom tragedy had immediately taken as a lover was calling her name, and the air smelled of salt and dead things.

Yuffie snapped out of her uncomfortable drowsing state, greatly disturbed for some odd reason.She couldn't remember if she had been dreaming or not.If she had, the Sandman had been in a cruel mood and given her a nightmare instead of a vision of euphoric bliss.That damn Sandman could be a real bitch sometimes…

"Yuffie," Vincent said again, looking down at the sleepy girl nestled in between his arms.

She blinked her gray eyes, now red and irritated from the salt water."Oh!" she exclaimed."Sorry Vinnie.Were you calling me?"

"Yes," he replied, reverting his attention to the endless ocean that had finally shown an end, and to the recovering but still diseased city in the distance."We'll be getting off soon."

"Okay," Yuffie said distractedly, rubbing her eyes.Then she jerked violently in surprise."What?!We're still in the water!"

"Not for long," Vincent answered patiently."We're coming up on Junon."

Yuffie leaned forward, wincing as her stiff neck gave a loud protest, and squinted into the distance.She could just make out the now expanded city of Junon Harbor in the near distance even through the pouring rain, which had apparently refused to let up in the time she had been drowsing.The lights of "Upper Junon" pulsated brightly like a beacon in the darkness for weary souls like Vincent Valentine and Yuffie Kisaragi to latch onto.The equally bright but fewer lights of "Lower Junon" hid humbly but respectfully underneath their superior, a child prodigy that dreamed of grandeur and knew that it would have it one day.

Yuffie had never seen a more beautiful sight in her entire life…besides the little light bulb in that room in that deep sea complex or whatever they called the place she had Vincent had just escaped from.

Ten minutes later, the jet ski named Black Stinger plowed up on the sand of Junon's narrow beach, and the two world weary travelers shakily disembarked, forsaking the vessel that hadn't failed or betrayed them once in their strenuous journey overseas.Meekly and dejectedly it sat there on the beach, watching wistfully as its passengers climbed up into the city of lights.It sat there all alone until the ocean mother, whose perfume Yuffie loved but whose waves and children sickened her, extended its tendrils of tides and claimed the jet ski named Black Stinger as one of her own, its boldly painted black and yellow surface sinking meekly beneath the watery terrain of the ocean, never to be seen again.

Then the beach was deserted.

_Author's Note: This was sort of hard chapter to write.I'm not very good with battle scenes.I always feel like I'm leaving out something, but I guess this chapter turned out okay.Comments welcome, as always.Email [catalina2717@go.com][1] _

   [1]: mailto:catalina2717@go.com



	6. The Prisoner

# _Sink to the Bottom With You_

### Chapter Six

# _The Prisoner_

## _"He's no good to me dead."The Running Man_

_Silence now the sound_

_My breath the only motion around_

_Demons cluttering around_

_My face showing no emotion_

_Shackled by my sentence, expecting no return_

#### Here there is no penance, my skin begins to burn

#### "My Own Prison"

_Creed_

_ _

Reeve awoke in a world of darkness and light, of hot and cold, a place where murderers murdered the innocents for noble causes.But Reeve did not know these things.He did not know where he was or even how he had gotten here.All he knew was that he was in pain and he had no balm in Gilead to ease that pain.His muscles felt weak and watery, as if all the strength had been leeched from them by invisible parasites.All of his heavy limbs were aching and sore, and he felt as if someone had pounded him from head to toe with a sledgehammer.But worst of all was the pain in his head, the pain of all pains.He had the mother of all migraines that no human medicine could hope to cure.It beat against his temples like a mind's demon trying to burst free of his skull and spread its disease to the rest of the world.Hot and cold raced across his scalp, pulsating like a thing alive.

All these physical sensations, were, of course only the half of it.A hellish fever was engulfing his entire head like a fiery shroud, and somewhere in the back of his agonized mind, Reeve knew that the madness that so many old people succumbed to in their fugue, the madness that had destroyed Sephiroth, the madness that Hojo had fed on like a hungering man on food, was now threatening him with its chaotic touch.All of his thoughts and memories were a jumbled mass of puzzle pieces that could never hope to be put together again.Memories of the past, thoughts of the present, and predictions of the future were all flung carelessly together in one haphazard pile in Reeve's brain, a mess beyond help.Nothing made sense to him anymore.

Opening his eyes, the man struggled to make some sort of logic appear in what he saw yet did not see.His eyelids were as heavy as lead, and his black hair was soaked through with sweat and hanging into his eyes like a protective veil.The first thing Reeve saw when his bleary, crazed eyes came into focus was a strange world filled an outlandish breed of light and darkness, looking like an offspring from a coupling by the colors of midnight and the otherworldly green light of the Lifestream.He was hanging in the middle of dark void with thick wisps of green mist floating all around, not allowing his teary eyes to see more than a few feet in front of him – not that he could have made sense of what he saw anyways.The pain in his skull was so supernaturally intense that his vision kept blurring and distorting, just like his memories, thoughts, and emotions.The scenery ran together until all Reeve could behold through the hammering in his head was a massive blur of black and green.

An unwitting moan escaping his parched throat, Reeve shut his brown eyes tightly and waited anxiously for a sudden bought of unbearable nausea to pass.His head pulsed with madness and heat, and for a moment, he relapsed into unconsciousness, the darkness becoming whole and complete for a few precious moments before the odious realm he was imprisoned in yanked him back to reality, forcing him to bear witness to the torturous silence that it taunted him with.

Gritting his teeth as if the pain could bring his thoughts back into something resembling order, Reeve forced his eyes open and made them focus with the sheer force of his will.His long inactive neck muscles screamed in protest as he lifted his head slowly until he met some sort of strange resistance from behind.His feverish mind whirled, feeding him dozens of words at a time for the thing that was behind him.One stuck out beyond the rest.

_ _

_A wall.There's a wall behind me._

His head lolled to the side, and Reeve saw that his right wrist was pinioned to the stone wall by some sort of metal cuff that cut rudely into the tender flesh of his wrist.Though he couldn't feel his hands (the blood had long since drained from them), he instinctively flopped his burning head to the left to see that his other hand was bound in a similar fashion, with another metal cuff.Racking his jumbled brain, he struggled to come up with a word…

_ _

_Shackles!That's what they are!_

It took a moment for Reeve's wasted mind to clank the thoughts together that being shackled to a wall with a high fever in a room that was completely black except for strange wisps of noxious green mist was a very bad thing.A very, very bad thing.

Reeve's heart began to pound in his chest with a fervor that matched the insanity threatening to beat his brain to a pulp with its chaotic weight._What am I_ _doing here?_ he wondered wildly, trying to focus his eyes so he could discern something familiar in the world around him._Who put me here?_

Phantoms of the recent past suddenly rose up in response to his soundless query, leaping like mnemonic demons out of the whirling maelstrom in his mind to reveal the cold, hard truth to him.Visions whizzed past him like an out of control slideshow, there and gone so quickly that he barely had time to grasp them, much less make sense of them.

Files.Papers.Lights.His office.

Shadow on the opposite wall.A presence behind him.

Man!Dark clothes.Ski mask.Can't see his eyes!Run!

Hitting the floor hard.Pain from his bleeding lip.Did the man hit him?

Something slamming against his head.Darkness coming.Reno's voice in the hall?

The man hovering over him!Who?

_ _

_The Running Man._

Reeve was jolted out of his tumbled memories by the undeniable sound of voices somewhere in this room of light and dark.Jerking his chains – he belatedly realized that his feet were shackled, too – the President of Neo-Shinra opened his eyes wide and tried to pinpoint the source of these new voices.Somewhere in the back of his rational mind, which was buried deep beneath all the madness, Reeve knew that he should be afraid of what was developing.What if these people were here to hurt him?Chances were they were in league with the Running Man, the kidnapper responsible for his being here.But the tattered remains of Reeve's common sense were just that – tattered remains.All he knew was that there was something else in here other than darkness and light, and he might be able to get answers regarding where he was and why he was here.

Try as he might, however, the man couldn't lock down onto the voices that seemed to originate from the thick mist itself.He could definitely hear them, however.Footsteps of several people echoed in the solitude of his prison, slicing through the heavy silence like a hot knife through butter.Their voices gained in volume as they apparently got closer and closer to where Reeve was chained to the wall.In a slight panic now and unnerved by the disembodied voices that would probably be deciding his fate, he squinted into the misty green and black gloom, trying in vain to see who his mysterious visitors were.

The footsteps abruptly came to a halt, and Reeve's blurry and distorted vision suddenly caught a brief glimpse of shadowy figures standing fearlessly in the exotically scented mist, wearing it like a protective cloak.Then he blinked, and they were gone.Their voices, however, remained, and, given their proximity, he was able to now make the scantest bit of sense from their words.

"…disappointing subject," one – a man – was saying, and his voice sent a sudden stream of shivers coursing down Reeve's spine. He had heard cold, heartless voices before, and until this man's words reached his ears, he would have said that Vincent and the late Sephiroth were in the lead as far as deep, icy, callous-sounding voices went, but this new man made Vincent sound like a peppy cheerleader by comparison.

"I expected much better results," the Cold One said, his terrifying voice reaching out from its covering of mist and darkness to pierce Reeve's ears and penetrate his consciousness, making the prisoner's heart freeze in terror.

"There something wrong with him?Why is he all weak and wobbly like that?" a woman's voice with a thick accent of some sort asked.

"Nothing I'll concern myself with," the Cold One replied tonelessly."Just an unfortunate result of the interrogation.He's as raw as an exposed nerve and probably insane, too.Given his current state, death would be a mercy for him."

Reeve shuddered violently.

Another man's voice, low and calm with some sort of rasp to it, spoke up."No death will be issued," it said firmly."I went through great lengths to bring you this one.You make sure to keep him alive, at least.There are some bounty hunters who will pay a good price for the President of Neo-Shinra.He's no good to me dead."

_ _

_The Running Man!_ Reeve realized with a start.

"Sounds like he wasn't much good alive either," the woman snorted condescendingly, her nasal voice making Reeve grit his teeth."I can't believe that Mr. Big Shot President here didn't know anything."

"I repeatedly told you two the same thing," the Running Man said coldly."He may be President, but that's all he is.And he's only a normal human being, to top it all off.I knew obtaining him would produce no result, and now I have the entire crew of not just AVALANCHE, but the Turks, out for my blood."

"Turks," the woman suddenly said softly, then let out a high-pitched laugh as she apparently shared some inside joke with herself.

The Cold One ignored the woman's outburst and addressed the Running Man."Capturing this one was easy enough, wasn't it?"

"All too easy," the Running Man agreed flatly.

"Then I will hear no other complaints from you," the Cold One deadpanned."Your job is to hunt out the people that I tell you to."

"You don't control me," the Running Man snapped.

Unfazed, the Cold One replied, "No, but I did once.It wasn't that long ago.Do you care to recall?"

No answer.

"I didn't think so," the Cold One said tonelessly with no hint of pride or triumph in his voice."You were a good acolyte, Titus, and now you make a good hunter even if you don't work solely for the values I represent."

"Values?" the Running Man echoed acidly."You represent _something_, I'll give you that, but they are not _values_.Nothing that goes on down here has any value to anyone.You and your followers are soulless, mindless, and heartless.You aid the Burrower, the Hungry One, the very thing that is the source of the Planet's disease.But you are no loyal worshipper.I know you intend to slay the monster you've idolized as a god for hundreds of years.I'm telling you, this ill-timed mutiny of yours won't work."

"What makes you say that, sugar?" the woman asked in an amused tone.

"The Burrower is thousands of years old," the Running Man deadpanned."The last of the Beasts.Killing him isn't going to be as easy as you both seem to believe.Chances are more likely of the Planet dying all around us and withering away before you devise a fiendish plan to slay him."

"As I was saying," the Cold One continued, as if the Running Man and the woman had never spoken in the first place."You're a good hunter, but tonight your work was…most displeasing."

Silence.

"You were followed," the Cold One continued, icy voice never wavering."Two members of AVALANCHE were able to track you and follow you to the deep sea complex.What if they had discovered our underground lair?Most humans would have run scared from the vibes of the complex.These two, however, did no such thing.AVALANCHE and the Turks are going to be formidable opponents."

"They wouldn't have made it to the subterranean tunnels," the woman interrupted haughtily."The fear would have gotten to them eventually."

"I wasn't expecting the likes of Vincent Valentine to show up," the Running Man said coldly."He's more monster than man."A sly tone entered the hunter's deep, gravelly voice."He's almost as bestial as you, my ex-Lord."

"Vincent Valentine," the woman repeated with demonic thoughtfulness, as if tasting the name as it fell from her lips."An ex-Turk, am I right?"

"You do know your Turks, don't you?" the Running Man grumbled.

"You bet, darlin'," the woman cooed, a nasty undertone prevalent in her nasal voice."Who was the other one with him?"

"Just some ninja girl," the Running Man said flatly."A thief to be exact.She is not—"

"Her name is Yuffie Kisaragi," the Cold One suddenly interrupted, silencing his two companions."She is the daughter of Lord Godo of Wutai."

"Wutai…" the woman pondered thoughtfully.

"I want that girl," the Cold One deadpanned.

"What about Valentine?" the woman asked suddenly, a pouting tone entering her voice.

"Oversexed whore-bag," the Running Man suddenly snapped."Vincent Valentine will not offer you the carnal pleasures that you seek from every man.I'm sure he would rather die first than submit to your feminine wiles."

"Jealous, honey?" the woman taunted cheerfully."Are you trying to say that you want to be _friends_ like we used to be?"

"Valentine will be next to impossible to catch," the Cold One interrupted."The girl is our next best bet."

"Why?" the woman pouted."She's just some ditzy teenybopper.What has she anything to do with Valentine?"

The Cold One ignored her and addressed the Running Man."Titus, you will bring us the girl."

_ _

_Yuffie!_ Reeve thought wildly._No!She's only seventeen!What would they want with her?_

"Easier said than done," the Running Man seethed coldly."She will be flanked on all sides by AVALANCHE and the Turks.Besides, how much do you think one teenage girl can tell us?"

"You're just a bounty hunter now," the Cold One deadpanned."You're not meant to ask questions; it is not your right to do so.All you are is just more mindless brawn to be dispatched at the slightest gesture of my hand.You've fallen from grace, my old friend.My opinion of you, once so high, has been greatly hindered by your rebellious acts of several years ago."

The Running Man ignored all these jabs."And what if I refuse to bring you this girl?"

"It may be easier that way," the Cold One responded flatly."One of my other hunters may have better luck catching her.After all, AVALANCHE and the Turks do think that you are the mastermind behind the kidnapping of their friend here.You're all they have to go on; they'll be on the lookout for you.How long do you think you can run around freely without me to protect you from the combined might and fury of both AVALANCHE and the Turks?"

Silence.

"You are beginning to see reason, then?" the Cold One asked."Will you bring us the girl?"

A long pause, then, "Yes.I shall."

"I'm comin' with you, honey.This will be a fun way to pass the time," the woman said suddenly.

"You are most definitely not coming," the Running Man snapped in a low, dangerous voice, apparently not at all pleased with the situation.

"She goes," the Cold One said simply.

Another heavy silence followed, lasting so long that Reeve began wondering if he had been hallucinating about the voices this entire time.But then the Running Man – whose name was Titus, apparently – answered flatly, "Very well.It is as you wish."

"Get on it then," the Cold One deadpanned.

"What about him?" the Running Man abruptly asked, and Reeve suddenly felt three pairs of eyes focus on him from the cover of the misty darkness, unseen beacons of sinister light in this forgotten and unheard of place.He squirmed slightly, just a mere jerking of his limbs, jangling the chains slightly.He hadn't the energy to do anything more.Did they know that he had understood all of what they had been saying?

"I have not yet decided his fate," the Cold One said shortly, his soulless voice chilling Reeve to the bone.It was truly terrifying to know that this man held his life in his hands.

"His allies will not rest until he is found," the Running Man commented in a neutral tone, but Reeve thought he heard some strange double meaning in the hunter's deep voice.

The woman with the accent apparently heard it, too."Are you saying we should return him to his friends?"

"No such thing will be done," the Cold One interrupted."He shall remain here in his prison until I decide his fate."

_ _

_No!_ Reeve thought wildly._Don't leave me in here alone, not with the fever and madness!Please!_

But the footsteps had started up again, only this time they were moving away, getting softer and softer, taking Reeve's hope of escaping by some act of mercy with them.He jerked as hard as he could, which was not very hard, against his shackles, but that got him nowhere.The fever in his brain was making his eyesight blurry, and the dark realm of unconsciousness was suddenly returning to take him back.His limbs grew increasingly heavy as the pounding in his skull crescendoed to an insane degree, almost obliterating all other sounds.

Yet, the last things he heard before the darkness took him under were the fading voices of the Cold One, the Running Man, and the mysterious woman.

"Indulge me, big guy," the woman said amicably, addressing the Cold One in a conversational tone."Just what exactly to you intend to do with Mr. President back there?"

"Kill him," the Cold One deadpanned.

"Wouldn't that be a bit rash?" the Running Man asked flatly.

"Then I'll just feed him to the Hungry One," the other man replied in his icy tone of voice."The Burrower is always up for the taste of modern flesh."

Then they were gone, and Reeve was left alone, hanging limply from the shackles that bound him to the wall of his prison.


	7. Awkward Moments

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Seven**

**_ _**

**_Awkward Moments_**

_"Don't worry everyone!The two dripping wet freaks have left the building!"Yuffie Kisaragi_

_ _

_I want to hold you and love you_

_In my arms and then_

_I want to need you 'cause_

_I need to be with you till the end_

_Then I hear myself reply_

_She'll never let you in_

_This time, tonight_

_If only I had the guts_

_To feel this way_

#### If only you'd look at me

_And want to stay_

_If only I'd take you in my arms_

_And say I won't go 'cause I need you_

_ _

_"If Only"_

_Hanson_

As Yuffie and Vincent strode defiantly into the lobby of the hotel, onlookers turned and gasped at the sight of the waterlogged and ravaged travelers the tempest had blown in, eyes taking in their battle-worn bodies and dripping clothes.Yuffie had suspected that she and Vincent looked bad, but judging from the looks on everyone's faces, she upgraded their appearance from just "bad" something closer to ghastly and hideous.She nervously tugged at her tank top and hitched up her soaked shorts from where they had been sliding down her narrow hips.Shivering in the air conditioner and trying to avoid everyone's horrified glances, she followed Vincent up to the counter where the manager was looking at them with a mixture of distaste, fear, and annoyance.

"We need two rooms for the night, please," Vincent said with cold politeness as his waterlogged cloak and dripping hair made a puddle of water beneath his feet.Although he didn't appear at all bothered by the stares of the other customers, Yuffie was uncomfortable enough for the both of them, fidgeting nervously and chancing glances around them, for some reason expecting to see the fleshly, black-clad figures of the Faceless Men staring at her with their eyeless heads glistening in the fluorescent lights.Instead, all she saw was a group of very cute guys in the corner staring at her in obvious disgust.

_ _

_Great,_ she thought, blushing fiercely and lowering her gaze._I must look positively horrid.They probably think me and Vincent are—grossness!_

She shivered at the thought, but it had nothing at all to do with disgust.

"Um, sir?" the manager said cautiously, obviously afraid of Vincent.Even soaking wet and missing his headband, the dark gunslinger was still one of the scariest things on the Planet."We, um, only have one room left tonight.There was a major influx of tourists this evening on their way back from Costa del Sol.You know how those things go—"

"Oh gawd!" Yuffie exclaimed incredulously, temporarily forgetting her dripping state."One room?Are you sure, mister?That would be _so_ uncomfortable!"

"Could you check again, please?" Vincent asked flatly, ignoring Yuffie's outburst.

"C-Certainly, sir," the manager stuttered, turning to his computer and tapping a few keys as both Yuffie and Vincent watched intently, willing the machine to be wrong.The man squirmed underneath Vincent's ruby red and Yuffie's stormy gray stares; nervous sweat glistened on his brow, and his hands shook a bit.He, too, hoped desperately that his computer would be wrong, but his search came up with the same results.

"I'm terribly sorry, sir," he said weakly, directing his answer at Vincent."One room is all we have left."

"That _sucks_!" Yuffie spat angrily."Does this crappy little room of yours at least have two beds?Because I'm certainly not sleeping in the gutter outside, thank you very much!"

The man nodded quickly, blue eyes wide."Y-Yes," he stuttered."Two warm, dry comfortable—"

"We'll take it," Vincent interrupted.

"Of course, sir!" the man exclaimed in relief, fumbling underneath the counter and producing a key, which he handed over to Vincent with shaking hands.

Vincent took the key."How much gil will it be?"

"Oh!" the manager said, apparently having forgotten that even freakish, dripping wet, fishy smelling members of AVALANCHE had to pay to stay in hotels."That will be 500 gil, sir."

Yuffie's mouth dropped open."500 gil?!Since when did the price go up?Sheesh!Your service here had better be good, buddy!I mean, you'd think that you would be more flexible, being that we're members of AVALANCHE and could seriously kick your—"

"Here you go, sir," Vincent said politely, handing over slippery coins that he had pulled out of his waterlogged pocket, trying very hard to pretend that Yuffie wasn't fuming beside him for the time being.

"T-Thank you," the manager said."Have a nice stay, you two!"

Yuffie rolled her eyes as she and Vincent walked towards the elevators."Oh pu-lease!" she snarled under her breath, in a huffy mood and making no effort to conceal it.For some reason, she was extremely uncomfortable with the fact that she would be sharing a room alone with Vincent for the night.And like her irrational and unjustified fear in the complex they had recently escaped from, she had no idea why she felt that way.It wasn't like Vincent was in the picture as far as prospective single men went.He was too weird, for one thing, and he scared the living crap out of her sometimes with his dark, gothic attitude, and unfeeling countenance. And he was old, too.Sure, he may only look 27, but in reality, he was way older than that.Definitely not able to meet Yuffie Kisaragi standards, whatever those were.She would rather go out with that drunkard womanizer Reno than Vincent Valentine.But if that was the case, then why was she so nervous…

The elevators chimed as they slid open with a gentle whoosh of air.Vincent strode in calmly, the room key clutched in one hand, but Yuffie suddenly turned around and glared at all the people in the lobby, who were still staring at the two travelers like they were the amazing Mud Monsters from Mars.

"Don't worry, everyone!" she cried, sarcasm dripping from her voice."The two dripping wet freaks have left the building!No need to gawp and panic like a bunch of retarded cows who have nothing better to do than—"

Vincent hooked his claw onto the waistband of her tan shorts and yanked her inside the elevator just as the doors whooshed shut.

Yuffie relaxed nonchalantly against the metal wall and smiled sweetly at her dark companion as he glared at her, dripping strands of ebony hair practically hiding his red eyes from view.She was fully expecting him to start bitching at her about proper etiquette, but he did no such thing, only kept glaring at her in a reprimanding fashion.Vincent was actually kinda cute when he was angry…

With a shudder that Yuffie thought didn't belong there for a hotel that cost so much, the elevator begin its ascent up to the fifth floor, where Vincent and Yuffie's room was located.

"Hey Vinnie?" she suddenly asked as they watched the numbers above the doors light up as they passed each floor.

"Yes Yuffie?" he replied calmly, studying the closed doors, apparently having gotten tired of scolding her with his eyes.

She fidgeted nervously."What if, you know, the room had only one bed?What would you have done then, huh?"

No!_Whatever_ had possessed her to ask such a question?!

The elevator doors opened with a chime, and Vincent strode out without a glance at her.

Yuffie ran out after him, her yellow sneakers sinking into the plush carpet and making squishing noises when her feet meshed with the water in them."Hey!" she called, ignoring the fact that there could be people sleeping in the rooms they passed."I asked you a question, Vinnie!"

"I know," he said calmly, ruby red eyes searching the numbers on the doors."But I see no reason to answer it due to the fact that the scenario didn't present itself."

"Huh?" Yuffie asked dumbly as they stopped in front of the room marked 532 and Vincent inserted the key into the keyhole."You know, Vinnie, since I'm really stupid, I would really like it if you would speak in English to me."

"I don't worry about situations that didn't happen," he translated.

"It's all gone and past, you mean," she said softly.

Vincent paused, and Yuffie received the distinct impression that she had surprised him."Yes," he said finally, "something like that."

He opened the room and stepped back, motioning for her to precede him through the door.Yuffie quickly scampered through the doorway, flushing slightly at the chivalry he was showing a little brat like her.She had always thought Vincent was too damn polite for his own good.

Yuffie strode into the hotel room, relishing the sight of the obligatory bland color schemes of the beige walls and tan bedcovers.It was freezing, and room had that special "hotel" smell lingering in it like a phantom, but she didn't care.

"I've got dibs on the window bed!" she cried, racing across the room and dropping the Conformer onto the spotless bedspread to reserve her space, having enough sense not to throw her dirty body on the clean bed along with her weapon.

Vincent didn't reply, only shut the door behind him and walked calmly into the room, examining his surroundings with that same cool, detached way that he examined everything.

Yuffie turned and watched him a few moments before asking, "So Vinnie, what are we gonna do?"

He turned his fiery gaze to her, eyes unreadable."What are you talking about?"

"You know!" Yuffie said, trying to make him sound like the idiot instead of her."About our situation?"

"What situation?"

She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips."Gawd, you are so thick sometimes!Are you sure you cleaned out all the cobwebs from your thirty-year long nap in that stinky coffin?I mean, I case you haven't noticed, we're in a predicament here!"

Vincent just stared some more.

Yuffie resisted the urge to scream."What are we gonna do about Cloud and the others?" she said with exaggerated patience."We were supposed to meet them back at Tifa's bar like five hours ago!They're probably worried sick about us right now!What if they go looking for the both of us in that cave?They'll see that the ship isn't there, and they'll think we died or something!"

The man shrugged."There is nothing we can do about it right now.Our PHS is broken; Cid will probably have to repair it again.I overheard two mechanics down in the lobby saying that the hotel's lines are down due to the storm.We'll stay the night here and leave in the morning."

"Even if it's raining?" Yuffie whined.

"You want to dish out five hundred gil to stay here another night?"

Yuffie pouted."Well…no, but—"

Vincent waved his hand."No buts.It's already been decided."

"Well, excuse me for breathing!Who died and made you leader?"

Vincent ignored her."I'm going to take a shower…"

"No way!" Yuffie immediately exclaimed."I'm taking a shower first, Vinnie!You're not the one who almost had your shoulder blown off by some freak with no face!Now move it or lose it!"

Without giving him a chance to protest, she made a beeline for the bathroom, brushing rudely past Vincent and shutting the door behind her.After a moment, she locked it, too, not because she felt that Vincent was going to come sneaking in on her, but because, for some odd reason, she had become particularly big on having her privacy lately.Maybe she was starting to finally grow up, but she didn't think so.After all, Yuffie still believed profoundly in the philosophy that if you whined and bellyached enough, you could get anything you wanted.

After figuring out how to work the water faucet in the bathtub (every hotel seemed to have a different mechanism just to annoy unaware people who stepped into the shower, turned a knob, and found themselves under a waterfall of either burning hot or freezing cold water.Not that such a thing had ever happened to Yuffie!), she glanced in the mirror to see an incredibly horrid sight.

"Grossness!" she exclaimed, her voice echoing in the bathroom as she made an ugly face at her reflection.There was a huge whopper of a bruise on her left cheekbone, the ugly circle of flesh a myriad of purples and yellow and blacks.Already she could hear that pain-in-the-ass Reno laughing and making fun of her.Her dark brown hair was tangled almost beyond help and smelled of seawater and the remnants of terror.But even worse, she saw that her tank top was ripped in…very inappropriate places.

"Great!" she growled at her reflection."I've been walking around with my boob practically hanging out of my shirt!"

_ _

_Goddamn that Vincent!Why didn't he say something?!_

Rearranging her tattered shirt so that she wasn't showing so much skin, Yuffie gingerly untied Vincent's red bandana from her wounded shoulder.She had gotten off lucky, at least in her opinion.The bullet had taken off a chunk of her shoulder, but after a couple of Hi-Potions all that was left of the gaping wound was a section of tender, shiny-looking scar tissue.The arm still ached when she moved it; she suspected that the dull pain was something that time and time alone could heal.She knew from experience that she would have to take it easy, or she would risk busting the wound open again, something that had happened to her in the past.Oh well, at least it wasn't spewing out blood anymore.

Making one last ugly face at herself, Yuffie turned away and proceeded to take a shower, eager to wash away all the aches and pains that plagued her, the physical ones, at least.

Vincent waited until he heard the water going and was content that Yuffie wasn't so weary that she would fall asleep and drown in the shower before he sighed internally and removed the Death Penalty from his holster, setting on the floor beside the bed would be sleeping in tonight, seeing that he other was reserved.He could hear Yuffie talking to herself in the bathroom, and the sound of her whining, high-pitched voice was a world of comfort.He had been worried in his heart of hearts that the girl might experience a sort of emotional aftershock that would reawaken the great earthquake of irrational terror that had gripped her in the deep sea complex they had fled from.Apparently, she was, for the most part, unharmed and was only suffering from severe crankiness, a "Yuffie" trait that he had learned to put up with from his adventures with AVALANCHE.

Walking up to the room's dresser, metal boots not making a sound on the plush carpet, Vincent stood in front of the mirror and stared at himself coldly.His blue-black hair hung around his face like a shroud, sharply contrasting with his deathly pale skin.Shorter strands of tangled ebony locks hung over his forehead and into his face, but even the ominous darkness of those tresses couldn't obscure the faintly luminescent red eyes whose coldly bestial nature shone defiantly from behind the veil of black hair…laughing, taunting.

Without any outer change in expression, Vincent stood unnaturally still and listened closer to the frozen wasteland that was his soul, searching the icy plains for the consciousness of the demon whose name no human tongue could pronounce, whose language no human, even a freakish hybrid like Vincent, could understand.Yes, this demon was almost another entity entirely, with thoughts and ideas of its own, a creature that was possibly as old as the Ancients, but to Vincent's callous mind it was simply…Chaos. 

The dark man listened even more carefully, hearing the biting wind whistling through the valves of his frozen heart, until he could just barely sense Chaos.The demon glared out at him from between two glaciers with absolute apathy, its soundless voice stubbornly silent now.Vincent coolly turned away from the demon's resting place and emerged from his trance-like state, red eyes coming back into focus.Chaos may be subdued and recessive now, but it hadn't been so when he and Yuffie had been sneaking around the deep-sea complex.Though he had given no outward signs of discomfort, Vincent had been fighting the transformation the entire time he had been there.Chaos was being unusually assertive and clamorous, trying to forcefully take over Vincent's form by using its sheer and incredible will.So adamant and dominating it had been that he had almost lost control on the demon several times while descending the stairs into the Green Room.

Vincent thought that Chaos' aggressive behavior might be connected to the irrational fear Yuffie had felt.Maybe there had been something down there that was producing some sort of…vibes that were meant to incite fear in the hearts of mortals.In his wanderings, Vincent had encountered several creatures with such an ability, but their fear-inducing attacks had always proved ineffective on him.He supposed that he had no emotions – fear included – for them to manipulate.Or maybe he was already too much of a monster already, and his inhuman nature immediately nullified their attacks.Whatever the case, such "fear vibes" had never worked on him before.

Until tonight.

But it hadn't even been him who was perturbed, really; it had been Chaos who brutally shattered and shoved its way out of its abode in darkness of Vincent's soul or wherever it resided.It had hovered there close to the surface of Vincent's consciousness, watching and waiting like it had never done before.The demon had gotten rowdier and more assertive as he and Yuffie had descended deeper into the earth, attempting to instigate the transformation without the consent of its host.It took all of Vincent's icy will power and grim resolve to contain Chaos.Everything from the eerie green light to the exotic stench hanging in the air to the rhythmic pounding from down below had – dare he say – disturbed the heartless demon.

Vincent was at a total loss to explain why, though.There were many things that he didn't know about Chaos…many things he had no desire to know.He loathed the demon as much as he loathed himself, but if Chaos acted like this every time it came in contact with circumstances like the ones of the past few hours, then new problems could arise.Vincent couldn't afford to be fighting the demon with every mental tooth, nail and claw he possessed whenever it became agitated.And no matter how much distaste he felt when discussing his "other halves," he knew that he would have to tell Cloud about this.

Or maybe he wouldn't tell him anything and simply disappear into the night.It would probably be safer that way…for them and for him.Why subject their sublime innocence to his dark presence and risk tainting them with his poison?

A loud thud from the bathroom jolted him out of his customarily morbid thoughts.Vincent stiffened but did not turn his head.Instead he listened carefully, suddenly gripped by incredible worry.He heard Yuffie swearing vividly with words she must have learned from Cid.Fortunately, the situation was completely benign.She had dropped a shampoo bottle on her toe and apparently was not very happy about it.No faceless monster had emerged from the toilet to attack her.

Vincent relaxed and, making sure that the door to the room and bathroom were both locked, removed his cloak, hanging it up to dry on a rack that was supposed to be used to hang clothes.Ignoring all the aches and pain generated just by moving, he slowly lifted the hem of his black shirt and pulled it over his head, hanging it up next to his cloak.Even though he wasn't standing in front of the mirror, Vincent could see that his chest and ribcage were covered in nasty purple bruises that splattered his pale skin like leeches.The tender, naked human flesh of his right arm also sported similar marks, silent testimonies to how narrow their escape had been indeed.He considered himself lucky that he had gotten by with only bruises; the strength of the Faceless Men had rivaled his own.In the worst case scenario, he could have ended up with a score of broken ribs or a crushed skull, but instead the blows of the monstrosities had only left these nasty reminders that would be gone come morning.They always were.Even bruises found Vincent's presence so distasteful that they didn't hang around for long.

Sitting down on his bed, he pulled off his boots, making sure to hide the Outsider underneath the bed where it could be easily reached, Vincent realized for the first time that he and Yuffie didn't have an extra change of clothes.They had left their packs on their chocobos just on the outskirts of the mountain range near Midgar.A bad thing, considering the condition of their current garments.The lack of suitable clothes, however, didn't really bother Vincent.He would just sleep in his pants, knowing that his clothes would be dry in the morning.Unlike his human friends, embarrassment and discomfort weren't really two emotions that he experienced often.He didn't care what others thought of him…

Completely oblivious to the fact that the air conditioner was turned on high and he was half-naked, Vincent climbed underneath the sheets, the human part of him feeling a strange comfort as the scratchy linen settled over his naked chest and damp pants.

As he lay there alone in the airy dark, listening to Yuffie sing softly to herself in her native Wutainese tongue, Vincent unwittingly let his thoughts drift to the thieving ninja who would be sleeping in the bed five feet away from him not long from now.

Even he had been surprised at how much she had changed when he had arrived in Kalm yesterday evening.Her short cap of dark hair with misplaced blond highlights had been swapped with an ever-lengthening waterfall of deep chocolate locks that brushed against her smooth, slender shoulders as she walked.A year of growing up had added womanly curves to her formerly stick-like figure.A year hadn't been long enough to add much to her height, but the girl who had once stolen their materia and chased Barret around Choco Billy's ranch with a pooper scooper had taken on quite a mature air.Though the look in her deep gray eyes was still flat out mischievous, buried underneath that was a keen intelligence and burgeoning woman's mind.The way those youthful eyes lit up with happiness the evening Vincent had ridden up on his midnight black chocobo Lamia had made his frozen heart jump for some unknown reason.She had rushed up and hugged him around his chest the way she had done when AVALANCHE had parted ways a year before.He still recalled with surprising detail the way he had placed a tentative hand on her narrow back, thinking that she was still such a small slip of a girl despite her obvious strength.She had stepped away quickly, an attractive maidenly flush coming to her face as she sheepishly tried to explain how happy she was to see him.

Of course, her happiness had been a Yuffie sort of happiness…

_ _

_"Geez, Vinnie!You're the last one here!Even I was getting old waiting around for you!Look at me, I'm withering away!Hurry up!"_

Rolling onto his side and ignoring the cries of protest that his many aches and pains gave, Vincent thought wistfully that Yuffie was going to grow up to be a beautiful woman someday.He only hoped that he might be around to see it…

He suddenly remembered with startling clarity the way she had fallen asleep in his arms earlier, her slender, warm body pressed against his as they skimmed across the ocean on the Black Stinger.Her head had slipped from under his chin to rest on his shoulder, her face serene as she slept.He recalled how he had gazed down at her for what seemed like forever, unable to tear his eyes away from the girl – young woman, really – with the willowy limbs of a nymph who was nestled with complete trust in the arms of a monster.So many things he had wished then…

_ _

_Not wise to think of such things, Valentine,_ he told himself harshly._She's so young…_

As he felt his eyelids drifting shut, the sound of Yuffie's continuing song suddenly struck his mind with startling clarity.He could still hear her singing softly even as the rushing water of the shower tried in vain to drown her out.Her voice was a beautiful, high soprano; he would have never guessed that Yuffie would have been able to sing.And that song, what was it?He couldn't understand the words, but the way the ethereal notes lingered in his ears made the little obstacle of language seem insignificant.He wondered vaguely what the enchanting song was about, but then sleep claimed him, and he was left with the mysterious aria to haunt his dreams.

In the shower, completely oblivious to the audience she had had, Yuffie abruptly stopped her song and cried out in pain as she dropped the conditioner bottle on her other toe.

_ _

_Rotten end to a rotten day,_ she thought angrily.

Tifa sat on the bottom step of the stairs leading to the upper level of the bar where the guest rooms were kept.From her vantage point, she could see the front room in its entirety.Lightening flashed outside, reflecting off of the shot glasses behind the bar.Thunder quickly followed its eternal companion, rattling the very same shot glasses so violently that Tifa briefly worried if they were going to fall over.The room was emptied and darkened except for the snoring form of Reno on one of the tables.Everyone else had gone up to their rooms a long time ago with heavy hearts that resulted from waiting around into the dead of the night for Vincent and Yuffie to return.Except for Reno, who had curled up on one of the tables and promptly fell asleep after amusing himself for hours by torturing Elena with all the stories about vomit and puke that he had locked up in his pea-sized brain.When Elena had turned a sickly shade of green and ran up to barricade herself in her room, Reno had switched subjects abruptly and started singing every version of the "diarrhea" song that he knew.

The woman curled up on the bottom of the stairs sighed, a lonely sound in the stillness of the room, and rested her chin on her knees, remembering what a pain in the ass Reno had been.He had been especially hard to deal with since Yuffie wasn't around to beat him up and distract him until he passed out.Rude had had to subdue Reno, a feat that had been quite amazing to watch.Big, scary Rude with his dark sunglasses and bald head coaxing his lanky, flame-haired companion to "take a nap."Reno had obliged almost immediately, curling up on one of the tables like a little kid with his knees drawn almost up to his chin.Tifa had almost expected him to starting sucking his thumb.

Getting up from her seat on the wooden steps, she walked gracefully over to a closet and pulled out a blanket.Maneuvering her way easily around tables and chairs whose positions she had long ago committed to memory, Tifa strode up to the warm, snoring shadow that was Reno's sleeping form and draped the blanket gently over him in a motherly fashion, the ends of the soft fabric trailing off the edges of his makeshift bed.Reno mumbled something under his breath, but didn't awaken.

Sighing again, Tifa turned away from Reno and looked glumly towards the closed door, her heart plummeting to the bottoms of her feet.Being with Cloud and her friends had given her strength and had relit the flicker of hope that Vincent and Yuffie would return during the night and laugh at how worried Tifa had been for them.She had even stayed up later than the others to wait for her two friends, but her efforts had been fruitless.Vincent and Yuffie hadn't come back, and as the storm worsened, Tifa felt that fragile hope begin to wither.Even now, the merciless rain continued to beat relentlessly on the windows, mocking her incessantly as thunder rumbled with laughter directly overhead, shaking the shot glasses again with its mighty sounds of mirth.

Reno suddenly snorted loudly and flipped onto his back, muttering something that sounded an awful lot like "Mika."Tifa, startled out of her morbid thoughts, turned to see that her ex-enemy was tossing and turning, apparently in the grips of some nightmare.Though she couldn't see his expression in the dark, she thought for a moment that she heard him whimpering deep in his throat, a sound that was very disarming coming from a tough guy like Reno.A motherly tenderness suddenly rose in her, and she reached over and gently readjusted the blanket around Reno's lean form, tucking it around his shoulders and brushing a lock of flame-red hair away from where it was making mischief by tickling his nose.She made a mental note to ask him about his strange mutterings in the morning.

Lightening suddenly flashed outside the window, illuminating the entire room as bright as day.

She saw a figure standing in the corner of the room, staring impassively at her with glowing Mako eyes.

Tifa's heart leapt into her throat, and she almost fell into a fighting stance, building a scream in her throat that would wake everyone up…but then she recognized the mysterious watcher.

"Cloud!" she gasped, clasping her hand to her chest."Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry, Tifa," he said apologetically, walking towards her across the wooden floor, trying to be extra quiet so as not to awaken Reno.

As he got closer, she finally realized why she hadn't recognized him at first.Her childhood friend was wearing a dark rain slicker that covered his entire body down to his ankles.He was also dripping wet.

"Cloud," she whispered, gesturing to his rain-sodden garments."What happened?What were you doing out in the rain?"

She could just make out the curve of his shoulders as he shrugged."I just had this hunch…"

Tifa squinted her eyes to see better in the darkness."A hunch?"

Cloud shifted uncomfortably, and she received the impression that he was embarrassed about something."Yeah," he muttered."Just a hunch.I went to check on the chocobos' pen; I thought that maybe Vincent or Yuffie might have sent their chocobos back with a note or something in case they had been trapped or attacked."He shook his spiky head slightly."I found nothing.Lamia and Butterfly are still missing from the pen."

"Wishful thinking," Tifa commented weakly."It was worth a try, though."

Cloud nodded."That's exactly what I was thinking.I wish we had some sign that they were at least okay."

She reached out and gently touched his cheek, which was wet from the rain."They'll be okay, Cloud.I know they will be."

The leader of AVALANCHE nodded quietly, but in his heart, he was thinking differently.He had this strange sense of foreboding that he hadn't felt since he had heard Aeris' voice calling to him in the City of the Ancients.The feeling that something bad was brewing wouldn't go away.It tickled at the back of his mind and ate a hole in his heart.And it didn't help one bit that two of his friends were missing, maybe trapped in a cave that was being rapidly flooded by rain, a cave to which they had gone to on _his_ orders.If Vincent or Yuffie died, it would be all his fault.

"Cloud?" Tifa asked."Are you okay?"

He stared at her beautiful face for a few seconds, and felt his heart breaking."Yeah," he muttered."Let's go up.I don't think they'll be coming back tonight."

Tifa hesitated."I want to stay up a bit longer.What if we just miss them and there's no one to let them in?"

"Tifa," Cloud said warningly.

"Or what if Reno gets cold?We don't have a heater down here."

"Tifa," Cloud said again, putting his hands on his hips.

"What if Reno falls off the table and hits his head?Someone will need to—"

"Tifa!" Cloud exclaimed, as loudly as he dared.

The young woman jerked in surprise."Yes, Cloud?" she said innocently.

He resisted the urge to laugh."You're being a worrywart again.Everything's going to be fine.If Vincent and Yuffie come by, they can always get in through the back door.And Reno will be fine; he's a tough bastard…or maybe just a bastard."

"Cloud!" Tifa said in surprise, wondering what had had made him say that.He usually made an effort be kind to their old enemies.

"What?" he asked grumpily."Sorry if I don't think too highly of the guy.He's the one passed out on our table like any common drunkard tottering around in the slums."

"Cloud!What's gotten into you?" Tifa hissed, shocked by his sudden show of anger.She knew he wasn't overly fond of any of the Turks, especially Reno.Tifa herself only put up with the redheaded spitfire because he was Reeve's friend, but she got along okay with Elena, and Rude had always been nothing but polite to her.Reno, however, was always putting the moves on her, flirting with her and grabbing her butt and such, and that tended to make Cloud angry, but she never thought that he would be so vicious even when speaking about someone like Reno.

He was silent for a while, and though Tifa could only see a faint glow coming from his eyes in the darkness, she knew he was staring at her blankly.

Finally, he shook his head."Sorry.I'm just worried.I'm going to sleep."

He brushed past her without another word, heading for the stairs, but Tifa hurried to catch up with him."Cloud?" she asked softly."What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," he answered, slipping off his rain-sodden slicker and draping it on the coat rack to dry.

Tifa moved quickly and blocked him as he tried to proceed up the stairs.She put her hands on her hips and said sternly, "I'm not moving until you tell me what's bothering you, Cloud Jeremy Strife!"

He sighed, shaking his head; he knew that when Tifa decided she was going to be stubborn about something, there was no stopping her.But he couldn't tell her what was really bothering him.There were too many things on his mind.The Running Man.Reeve.Vincent and Yuffie.Her.Cloud had to suddenly fight down a raging jealousy and ache in his heart as he recalled watching how tenderly she covered Reno with the blanket, brushing a lock of hair away from his face with gentle fingers while he watched, unseen in the dark corner with crumbling emotions.He kept telling himself that Tifa was just experiencing maternal instincts; she was one of those kinds of pure, wonderful people who took care of everyone else before even considering their own comfort.She was just worried about Reno because he was having a nightmare.That was all.Maybe he was overreacting.

"Cloud?"Tifa's voice suddenly cut through his thoughts, bringing him back to reality.

"I'm fine, Tifa," he said softly."Just tired."

"Okay," she said uncertainly, not knowing whether to believe him or not."Let's go to bed."

"Yeah."

She led the way up the stairs, and Cloud followed, suddenly aware of the deep, aching void in him.He watched wistfully the way the strong muscles of her smooth legs flexed as they climbed the stairs one by one, her long brown hair brushing the backs of her legs.Though he wanted this beautiful woman to be his wife more than anything in the world, he was afraid that if he asked, it would destroy what they already had, which was a companionable neighbor-like existence with rooms next to each other.Besides, she seemed happy with things just the way they were.Why should he go and bungle it with his selfish desires?Why ruin her happiness so that he could have his?

Cloud shook these thoughts away, trying his best to clear his mind of all his worries as he and Tifa emerged into the hallway where the guest room, including hers and his, were kept.He could hear Cid snoring from a room further down the hall, and that sound of unconscious contentment somehow lent a spark of life to the deserted hallway.

When they reached the door to Tifa's room, she turned around and gazed up at him, relieved that she was able to see his face clearly in the lights from the lamps she had set up in either corner of the hallway."So, oh fearless leader, what's the battle plan for tomorrow?" she asked.

"Well," Cloud replied cautiously."As soon as dawn breaks, Barret, Cid, Red, Rude, Elena, and I are going to check on that cave I sent Vincent and Yuffie to investigate."

"You're leaving me here?" she asked, looking hurt.It broke his heart.

He fumbled for the words to explain this to her."Well, you see, we need someone to keep watch here in case Vincent and Yuffie do come back when we're away.I would call Marie back to work, but I gave her the week off, and besides, I don't think she can quite handle the things we've seen."

Tifa put her hands on her hips again, still looking hurt."You've got to be more convincing than that, Cloud," she said sternly."Why can't I come?"

Words rose in his mind from a treasure chest of such forbidden phrases whose lid he had sealed and thrown away the key._I don't want you to come because it might be dangerous.I can't let you get involved.If the Running Man is waiting for us, and I meet my death either by his hands or by the forces of Nature, I want to die knowing that you are safe.I want to know that when I'm dead and gone, you'll still be here, continuing, helping people, your heart made of gold, you beauty eternal and timeless, like that light in your eyes.I don't want you to come because I can't bear the thought of losing you…to anyone or anything.Without you, I would just curl up and die._

Instead he said, "Someone has to take care of Reno."

No!Whatever had possessed him to say something like that?

Tifa looked puzzled."Reno?"

_ _

_Okay, Strife, you dug your own grave, and now you have to dig your way out of it._

"Yeah," he stammered."Um, Rude said that when Reno drinks like that, he wakes up with a major hangover, and to get him up bright and early is to listen to him bitch about every little thing.Rude and I both thought it would be best if we would leave him behind."

"He's going to be mad," Tifa said in a flat tone with some indiscernible emotion in her wine-colored eyes.

"Yeah, I know," Cloud replied hastily."That's why you have to stay here and watch him.If we leave him alone and he wakes up to find that we're gone, he might try and follow us, leaving the bar unattended.And you know about Reno's temper; he might decide to trash a few things before he leaves.I wouldn't put it past him."

"So I'm staying behind so I can babysit a 25 year old kid?" Tifa said slowly."And make sure that he doesn't trash the bar in his anger before he leaves?"

_ _

_Oh crap.She's mad; she's really mad._

"Just don't let him leave at all," Cloud urged warily, looking for any signs that she was going to blow up in his face."He'll just get in the way."

"Like me?" she asked coldly, her eyes emotionless.

"No!" he exclaimed loudly, his voice echoing in the empty hallway."No," he said softly, lowering his voice as Tifa continued to stare at him with an apathy that she must have learned from Vincent."It's nothing like that, Tifa.Nothing like that at all.I just that I don't…I mean…you know."

"No, Cloud, apparently I don't know," she said waspishly, and now he could see that she was hurt as well as angry."And I would think that after all we've been through together, you could trust me.Goodnight."

With that, she whirled and disappeared into her room, shutting the door behind her and locking it, leaving a stunned and baffled Cloud in her wake.However, it only took a second or two of staring at the wooden door to realize that he had made a huge mistake.

"Tifa!" he whisper-screamed, knocking on the door with his gloved hand."Open up!"

"Go to bed, Cloud," she said flatly from the other side of the door."You said you were tired."

"Tifa, open the door."

"No."

"I want to talk to you.Please?"

"I've talked to you enough tonight.I already know my place is to stay here and babysit Reno.I have nothing more to say to you."

"Tifa!"

"Go away, Cloud.Good night."

"Tifa!C'mon, don't be like this!"

No answer.

"Tifa, I know you're there.Open up."

No answer.

_ _

_Well, I really fucked that one up,_ he thought miserably as he banged his head against the door and sighed in defeat.As far as he could remember, he had never made her this mad before.But Tifa was never one to hold a grudge, and he hoped she would get over it come morning.If not, he would apologize.However, a problem would arise if she asked him to justify his actions.If he started telling her how he felt, everything would come bubbling out.He couldn't let that happen, not when she was so happy.

_ _

_I have to make a decision.I can't go on like this forever.It just hurts too much.No, I can wait longer; I have to._

"Goodnight, my love," he whispered to the closed door.

_Author's Note:Just from the record, the whole Tifa/Cloud fight at the end wasn't intended.It just sort of developed at the spur of the moment, and I lost control of my fingers.Crazy, huh?And what's this?Cloud jealous of Reno? Hmmm…this might go somewhere…email _[catalina2717@go.com][1]_ _

   [1]: mailto:catalina2717@go.com



	8. Once Upon a Midnight Dreary

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Eight**

**_ _**

**_Once Upon a Midnight Dreary_**

_"Vinnie Valentine, this is the voice of God.Wake your ass up!"Yuffie Kisaragi_

_ _

_Darling so share with me_

_Your love if you have enough_

_Your tears if you're holding back_

_Or pain if that's what it is_

_ _

_"Eyes On Me"_

_Faye Wong_

The light was all around her, green and stinking like the bodies of a dozen corpses.It kept brushing against her skin in wisps, like claws trying to get inside her thin shield of flesh.Long nails like pickaxes suddenly emerged from the seething light and dug themselves into her chest, creating a lacerating pain that was rapidly spiraling down to her heart, seeking to rip the pulsating organ from its rightful place.Yuffie screamed and slapped them away frantically, but the tendrils of light suddenly grew hands and snatched her up by her arms, dragging her along in their midst to some unknown place.

"No!" she screamed."Let me go!Vincent, where are you?!"

But no one answered her; she was alone with the light and the amoebas.Someone in the darkness laughed, and she tried to whirl to see who it was, who would be in this godforsaken place, but the light was all around her now, and she could see nothing.

Therefore, when the pit opened up beneath her, smelling of salt and dead things, she was falling before she even had the chance to scream.When reality finally dawned on her, and she knew she was going to die, and die alone, she let out a scream that resounded off of the far corners of the Planet.

The green light laughed at her.

Yuffie woke up with a soundless scream, clawing at the air with her dry, chapped hands.Her heart was pounding so loud that it drowned out the endless rain slamming against the window and the thunder rumbling overhead.She was freezing, and she was in a dark place that held no trace of the green light.It took her a few moments of breathing hard and glancing around in a panic for her to remember that she was in a hotel room.

Wrapping the blankets around her shivering body, Yuffie lowered her face into her hands and tried to calm herself down._It was just a dream,_ she told herself. _It was just a dream.You're not in that horrible place with the green light and the endless pit; you're here in a hotel in Junon with thin blankets and a storm raging outside the window.And you're not alone; Vincent is less than five feet away from you._

Raising her face from her hands, she looked to her left to see the dark figure of Vincent lying in the bed next to hers.He had gone to sleep without a shirt (or a shower.Grossness!) and she could see the curve of his naked back facing in her direction.The blankets covered him from the waist down, and his midnight black hair was spread out in an inky pool amongst the white sheets behind him.

Before she knew what she was doing, Yuffie had thrown back the blankets and was padding over to Vincent's bed.The floor was cold underneath her bare feet, and the air conditioner had made the room so freaking cold that the temperature rivaled the substantial lows on the Great Glacier.Yuffie realized belatedly that she had left her shorts and tank top to dry in the bathroom, and she was standing around in her undergarments.She immediately backtracked and grabbed the blankets off her bed, wrapping them around herself until she felt like one of those super thick burritos that Barret practically inhaled at that restaurant in Corel.

Walking as quietly as she could over to Vincent's bed, she stood peering awkwardly down at him, wondering what the hell she was doing.Vincent's pale skin practically glowed in the dark, and now that he was showing so much of it, she had no trouble seeing him in the darkness.When people first saw Vincent in his dark clothes and large red cloak, they always tended to receive the impression that he was severely thin.Even Yuffie had always thought Vincent to be underweight for a man of his prodigious height.Looking at him now, she saw that Vincent was actually quite muscular with strong-looking broad shoulders and a smooth back whose muscles rippled slightly as he shifted in his sleep.She suddenly remembered how she had loved the feel of those muscles when she had hugged him almost a day ago, when he ridden up to Tifa's bar like a dark knight on his midnight black chocobo…

Yuffie flushed, a bit of heat on her cold cheeks, as she scolded herself for thinking of Vincent this way.He was a man, and she was just a skinny little nobody who everyone knew as "brat" or "pest."Why would he even want to be near someone like her?But she really, really, _really_ didn't want to sleep in her cold, lumpy bed by herself with that window and the air conditioner less than two feet away from her…

_ _

_I can't believe I'm going to do this.I hope he's not going to wake up grumpy._

Clearing her throat, she whispered, "Vincent, are you awake?"

The man shifted slightly, but didn't reply.

"Vincent," she called again, taking a step closer to the bed and feeling like a total idiot."Vincent, wake up."

No answer.Yuffie frowned and contemplated getting her pillow and hitting him with it, but when she realized that he would probably wake up and shoot her, she wisely repressed the urge.

"Vinnie Valentine," she sang, making her voice deep and manly."This is the voice of God.Wake your ass up!"

He stirred, but didn't wake up.

Frustrated, Yuffie reached over and touched his shoulder with her cold fingers.The results were instantaneous.Vincent woke up, his right arm reaching backwards at an almost impossible angle and grabbing her forearm in a deathgrip, cutting off her circulation almost immediately.Yuffie yelped in surprise and pain.

"Vincent!" she snapped, trying to pull away."Let go!It's me!Yuffie!"

Vincent rolled over onto his back, his red eyes open wide and focused.He stared at her blankly for a few seconds, then released her arm.

"Yuffie?" he asked in a voice thick with sleep."What's wrong?"

She scowled, her arm still hurting."What's wrong?" she echoed."You were trying to rip my entire arm off, you idiot!"

He was unfazed."What are you doing running around like that?"

Blushing, Yuffie readjusted her blanket covering and squinted at him in the darkness."I'm cold," she said awkwardly."The window and the air conditioner are right by my ear.My bed is lumpy, too.Can I sleep with you?"

Vincent was silent for a long time as Yuffie shifted her weight from foot to foot, more uncomfortable than she had ever been in her entire life.She knew her face was bright red.God, if only Vincent wouldn't stare so much!Didn't the weirdo have any tact at all?

"You want to trade beds?" he asked finally.

_ _

_Damn!He isn't going to make this easy._

"I'll still be cold," Yuffie whined."I can't even feel my fingers and toes right now!"

Vincent stared at her, his eyes taking in her covering of blankets."Are you decent underneath that?"

Yuffie's blush turned even redder."I'm as decent as I'm going to get," she grumped."Please, Vinnie.I just want to lie down.I won't even get near you."

Another long period of silence fell, and Yuffie fidgeted as nervously as she could without displacing her covering, refusing to meet his gaze.Readjusting her wrapping of blankets and sheets, she thought that she would just die of embarrassment if Vincent sent her back to her bed, but she refused to beg him.It had taken enough guts just to wake him up and ask him about this.She had to keep some of her dignity.

Finally, Vincent gave his answer, not in words, but in actions.He scooted over a little and pulled the sheets back for her before turning to face the wall again.

"Thank you," Yuffie said softly, slipping underneath the covers and rearranging her own layers of blankets that were serving as her pajamas.The bed underneath her was warm from Vincent's body heat, and the scent of him was clinging to the sheets.Flipping over onto her stomach, she pressed her left cheek against the fluffy white pillow, feeling warm and safe with Vincent less than a foot away from her, even if his back was turned to her.Oh well, let him pretend she wasn't there.His dark hair was still pooled behind him, a few stray tendrils lying close to her in curiosity of this strange girl who was sharing a bed with them.

Dark and dangerous, Vincent looked, sprawled out in this bed of whiteness.It was strangely enchanting, how good the darkness looked on him.How it leapt to cover his figure as if to hide it from her probing eyes.Lightening flashed outside the window, briefly throwing the inky shadow of the curve of his shoulders against the wall in front of him.

Quietly extending her fingers, which seemed to have suddenly developed a mind of their own, she reached out and gently lifted a tendril of Vincent's ebony hair, amazed at how soft it was, especially considering what hell it had been put through tonight.She curled it around her finger, loving the silken feel of the strands as they slid over her skin.She wished that she had long, straight hair like this.There were so many things you could do with long hair, and that was why she had finally agreed to letting her hair grow out.She had loved Aeris and Tifa's long falls of hair for as long as she could remember.Aeris' little twisty thingy or whatever she called it, was the most hilarious thing Yuffie had ever seen.She loved to tug on it and go, "Ding dong!Anyone home?" especially when Aeris said something innocent or naïve that had made her sound like a noodle brain.It usually earned Yuffie an angry glare and the threat that she was going to get bashed over the head with the Fairy Tale, but it had been sort of an ongoing joke between her and the late Ancient.She missed Aeris.

"Yuffie?" Vincent suddenly asked, jolting her out of her reverie."Are you going to yank on my hair for the rest of the night?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed, turning bright red and retracting her questing fingers like she had received a slap on the wrist."Sorry," she said quietly.

Vincent didn't reply, but Yuffie hadn't been expecting one from him.Silence hung in the air for a few minutes as thunder roared outside the window, and raindrops pelted the glass like the succubus begging to be inviting in to do their ghastly deeds.It didn't take long for Yuffie to realize that she wasn't going to be able to get to sleep.

"I had a nightmare," she said before she could stop herself.The sound of her voice in the cold hotel room as she lie next to this cold-hearted man of darkness and shadows resonated like a lonely echo, chasing after its duplicates as if in search for a companion.

"It was really scary," Yuffie continued, talking more to herself than to Vincent and not caring whether or not he thought she was being a chatterbox.She had to tell somebody about her nightmare, even it was the silence around her or the smooth skin of Vincent's back."I was all alone in a strange place.I thought it was the Green Room at first, you know, because of the light and the smell and all, but now I'm not so sure.I don't even know if it was a room at all, maybe just a vortex of light because that's all I could see.But…this light was alive, it had claws and teeth; I knew it did, even if I couldn't see them.I felt it gnawing at me, at my legs, at my arms, clawing at my chest, trying to rip my heart out."

Vincent rolled over and stared at her, but Yuffie didn't notice.She was once again lost in her nightmare.

"It grabbed me," she continued softly, shuddering underneath her covering of blankets."And it started dragging me towards…I don't know what.I was really scared.My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to bust through my chest.Maybe that was what they wanted…"

"They?" Vincent suddenly asked, and Yuffie jumped slightly.She hadn't even known he was listening.

"Yes, them," she said quietly, studying his emotionless face."The voices in the light; I heard them…laughing at me.I hated their laughter; I really did.It was the laughter of those that are completely gone fruit loops, you know?Only these people seemed to have lost their humanity along with their state of mind."

"What were they doing in the light?" he asked softly."And why did they want your heart?"

Yuffie was silent for a long time as she tried desperately to recall something, a tale, or a song, or some kind of bedtime story, from her youth that she had forgotten in her adolescence.The answers were there, in her past, but for some reason she just couldn't remember."I don't know," she said finally."I almost remember why, but the answers just aren't coming.Sorry."

Vincent just lay there gazing at her with his garnet eyes.

Yuffie dark eyebrows suddenly knitted together in a frown."Hey Vinnie?"

"Yes Yuffie?"

"Is…it true…that if you die in your dream that you're going to die in real life, or you'll wake up dead or something like that?"

Vincent hesitated."I don't know, Yuffie.That part about the dream being a premonition of one's upcoming death sounds too superstitious for my liking.Death comes when it chooses; it does not defer to the will of dreams.But I suppose it is possible that if one believes themselves to be dying in a dream, then the body may follow what the dreaming brain is telling it to do…and just die because the mind thinks that its cycle has come to an end.Sort of like when you weep in your dream and you wake up crying."

Yuffie stared at him in the darkness, mesmerized by the faint luminescence coming from his eyes.When she had first met him, she had thought that the deep red color of his eyes was the scariest thing in the world, but eventually she had come to realize that Vincent's garnet-colored eyes were actually quite beautiful, even if they could periodically turn as cold as the bitter winter or as empty as an endless void.

"Do you ever weep while you're sleeping, Vincent?" she asked softly.

He stared at her for a long time, long lashes dropping down so that only half of his ruby eyes were visible.He slowly turned his face away from her and gave his attention to the ceiling, his metal arm resting gracefully on the pale flesh of his naked torso, which was as beautifully sculpted as that of a marble god's statue fashioned by the dexterous hands of a sculptor from the heavens.His abdominal muscles rippled slightly as he breathed, and Yuffie barely suppressed the urge to reach out and run her hands over his hard belly.

But she did none of this, thinking her fantasy actions almost blasphemous during this delicate period of contemplation, of companionable silence and pain unspoken as she awaited his answer with a lover's patience.

"I might have," he finally answered, his deep voice so low that it was just a mere rumble coming straight from his chest."When I was younger with the vibrancy and foolishness of a child.Those times have long since died out, though, just like this frozen heart in my chest.I no longer have the proper emotion it takes to shed tears, either consciously or unconsciously."

"That's so sad, Vinnie," she suddenly whispered, for some reason feeling herself on the verge of tears, maybe tears that she would shed for him since he was incapable of shedding any himself.

He snapped his head in her direction, garnet eyes suddenly hard."What's so sad about it?" he demanded of her."There's no tragic flavor to what has befallen me.It was just irony.What goes around comes around.The monster finally has to look in the mirror and see his true self, what's always been there but what he would never admit up to."

"You're not a monster, Vincent," she murmured feverishly.

"Yes, Yuffie, I am," he said in a low, deadly voice, red eyes flashing."I've always been monster, hiding my true nature behind the blue suit of the Turks.The only difference between what I am now and what I was then is that then I was a monster just pretending to be a man.I have been deprived of no human nature at all; the only think Hojo took away from me was my delusions about my being human."

"That horrible, Vinnie!" she suddenly burst out, oblivious to the lone tear that fell down her cheek."You're so morbid!You have people all around you that care about you and the potential to lead a happy existence, but instead you continue to punish yourself for something that was never your fault in the first place!"

Vincent stared at her apathetically.

"Go ahead and call yourself a monster!" she continued ranting, impassioned by some unknown and unfamiliar emotion."Live out your life wallowing in despair and die a lonely, miserable old man!I don't care!"

Yuffie rolled over sharply, turning her back to him and facing her abandoned bed, which looked meek and defenseless as it sat there stripped of all its sheets and naked against the ghastly low temperature of the room.The girl shrunk in on herself, curling into a little ball with her knees drawn up to her chest, gritting her teeth to hold back unwanted tears that were threatening to bubble out of her eyes like the rain from the thunderclouds.Why was she getting all worked up over this?She had heard Vincent speak of his "sins" and "punishment" time and time again, and she had just yawned and moaned, "Booooring!"Why was she so upset now?And she had to get all teary-eyed and emotional when she was lying next to him in bed, of all unforeseen situations!And with only blankets to hide the fact that all she was wearing was a bra and underwear!Talk about awkward and uncomfortable!

_ _

_It's that damn dream,_ she told herself angrily as she pulled the blankets tighter around herself and tried to ignore Vincent's presence at her back._All because of that stupid dream where I was all alone, and the mist was trying to tear my heart out, and they dropped me into the pit with the amoebas and then they laughed as I died…oh god!_

The sob she didn't even know she had been holding had burst free of her chest and forced its way out of her throat before she had time to choke it back down.She hurriedly clamped a hand over mouth to prevent any of its brothers and sisters from following in its footsteps, but the tears rolling unbidden down her face distracted her and a whole plethora of sobs slipped past her weak guard and into the silence of the room.That was the final straw.Yuffie buried her face in her hands and burst into tears for a reason that was unknown to her except in her heart.Her back heaved with the force of her weeping, and inside, she kicked herself angrily for being such a wuss.She wasn't a baby who cried over every little thing!What the hell was wrong with her?!

Yuffie didn't know for how long she had been crying when she suddenly felt the bed springs shift and the warm, hard feel of a body pressed against her shuddering back.An arm of tarnished gold suddenly reached over and gently grasped her around the waist, pulling her back against a chest of sculptured marble.

It took her a moment to realize that Vincent was holding her.

"Go away, Vinnie," she whispered through her tears, but her harsh words lacked a kindred emotion for them to fall back onto.In her heart, Yuffie knew that she wanted everything but for him to go away.

"No," was all he said, tightening his hold on her, and pressing his warm cheek against her tearstained one.She felt his knees touch the back of hers as he curled up against her.

"Leave me alone," she murmured, wiping the tears viciously away from her face, trying in vain to ignore the warmth that was spreading across her entire body, originating from every inch of skin in contact with his.

"No," he replied calmly, his mouth against her ear, causing the warmth to crescendo to an almost unbearable degree."Just go to sleep, Yuffie.I'll be right here…to keep you warm."

"O-Okay," she said shakily, her head feeling a bit woozy for some reason.Maybe it was the concept and fantastical reality that Vincent Valentine, ex-Turk and monster by his own admission, was holding her against him so gently.Or maybe all the fear and unfamiliar emotions had finally slammed into her with the shattering force of an out-of-control freight train on the road to nowhere.Either way, she was completely worn out.

So, nestled warmly against Vincent's body, she finally slept.

She had no more nightmares.

_Author's Note: Okay, I think you can see where this whole Yuffie/Vincent thing is going.What can I say? I know they're extremely mismatched, but for some reason, I always pair them up.Anyways, for the record, this chapter was supposed to part of the previous one…Awkward Moments, was it? But, let's face it, this one took off and developed a significance of its own, so I had to give it its own spotlight.Comments welcome.E-mail _[catalina2717@go.com][1] __

   [1]: mailto:catalina2717@go.com



	9. The Devil's Love Triangle

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Nine**

**_ _**

**_The Devil's Love Triangle_**

_"Reno, you wouldn't know sensitive or chivalrous if they came up and kicked you in the teeth."Tifa Lockheart_

_ _

_I'm sorry about the attitude_

_I need to give when I'm with you_

_But no one else will take this _

_Shit from me_

_And I'm so terrified of_

_No one else but me…_

_Reach down your hand_

_In your pocket and pull out some hope for me_

_ _

_"Long Day"_

_Matchbox 20_

The beach was deserted when the rising sun finally dethroned the night that had presided over Junon Harbor.But the forces of darkness were running rampant and unstoppable for the next few days, and even the mighty brilliance of Dawn with her fingers of rose could not penetrate the stormy thunderclouds that prevented her from touching her kingdom and its inhabitants. The dark interveners of the light still belched forth their endless supply of rain, thunder, and lightening, trying to forcefully take over the realm that was ruled by the sun and moon.And for now, it seemed almost as if it was going to succeed.

The nighttime raindrops had left the dark sands of the beach pockmarked and wet as if the compact grainy substance had contracted a horrible alien disease.The tracks that Vincent and Yuffie had made while fleeing to the shelter of Junon had long ago been washed away, along with their faithful jet ski the Black Stinger, all reclaimed by the insatiable ocean mother who had once owned the world and now wanted to devour the fruits that had abandoned her womb for that of the earth.Her furious tides, swollen by the rain, pounded hungrily and viciously on the sands of Junon, trying to take back what mankind had stolen from them.

But their efforts on behalf of their mother were in vain.They had been trying such tactics for an eternity now.Reclaiming the land was fruitless; human and Ancient alike had long ago ceased to worry about how dangerous the ocean was.They had forgotten her majesty, her fury, and her hungry children of the deep.

So she decided to teach them a lesson.

From her dark depths, she smugly belched forth five wartorn figures.

The first of these figures washed up on shore like an unwanted child who was nothing nature had ever intended to create—an accident, an abomination.Its man-like figure was clothed in the remnants of black rags, and it was missing one entire arm and half of the other.Yet it was with these stumps that it dragged itself relentlessly on shore with some indomitable will that resided within its soulless, heartless, mindless shell of pink flesh.Its legs, whole and complete, but useless for the time being, dragged meekly behind it, waiting for their moment.

As soon as the creature had escaped the grips of the ocean that had decided she was done playing with it, the creature shuffled onto the wet sand, dragging itself along with the stumps that had once been its arms.Lightening flashed across the slightly lighter sky, reflecting off of the creature's glistening head.With the same relentless patience that had propelled it through the worst of the ocean's fury, the monstrosity that may have once been a man sprung to its feet in one swift movement and stood alone on the once deserted beach.

Four others soon followed, each the identical twin of the first refugee.The new arrivals also came from the hungry tides of the ocean, all missing limbs from various places on their bodies.But these absent appendages didn't deter the fleshly monstrosities at all.Their wounds no longer bled; they felt no pain.They felt nothing.

One by one, each of the four new arrivals came to stand beside the first one, looking like outdated and mutilated action figures.

Together again, the five wartorn but fully operational Faceless Men moved towards the awakening city of Junon.

Cautiously, Reno opened one eye.The effort it cost him to accomplish such a feat, however, was so painful and unrewarding that he ditched the effort and shut it again.He felt as if an entire legion of oddball life forms had invaded his skull and were digging at his brain with tachyon lasers and superheated pickaxes or whatever oddball life forms used to perform their autopsies on humans.His mouth felt drier than the desert around Dio's prison (not that he'd ever been down there), and it tasted as if something had died in there.His limbs ached from top to bottom, and his nightstick was poking him in…an extremely sensitive place.

In short, he felt like crap.Week old crap.Crap that had been flushed so many…

"Reno?" a voice suddenly cut through his consciousness and assaulted his delicate nerve endings, intensifying the pain tenfold.He groaned.

"Oh, I see you're awake," the voice said dryly.Hey that sounded an awful lot like that lady from AVALANCHE, the one with the boobs, the one that Rude was still obsessing over even after Reno had told him a dozen times to…

"Reno!" Tifa cried, shaking him roughly by the shoulder."Get up and quit drooling all over my table!"

With a great effort, Reno forced both of his eyes open.Light exploded across his vision, drilling into his brain like an ice pick.Gritting his teeth, he forced both of them to focus at the same time.Ignoring the throbbing pain in his skull and the major annoyance he felt at being so rudely awakened at such an early hour, he squinted into the light above him.Eventually, Tifa's lovely face swam into view, a sight for sore eyes.Only now, as she stood at his side glaring down at him, that beautiful face now sported a severely irritated look.

"Ugh?" Reno grunted intelligibly, trying to work up the strength to move his limbs.

Tifa scowled."What was that?I don't understand cavemen talk."

"Ugh," Reno said again, but this time followed up with, "Tifa…good morning."

She looked surprised."Well, um, hello, Reno, good morning to you, too."

He squinted his bloodshot aquamarine eyes, trying to get the two Tifas to merge into one."Can you turn off my nightlight?" he suddenly asked.

Now she looked amused as well as surprised."I think you're a bit old for a nightlight, Reno."

Reno didn't hear her comment, noticing for the first time that he was not lying on his bed or his couch."Where am I?" he slurred, clutching his lead-heavy hands to his aching head.

"My bar," she replied, looking down at him sternly.

"Bar?" Reno echoed weakly.Then, amazingly, he grinned up at Tifa's figure, which was still blurry at the edges."Did we just get through a night of hot sex?"

Tifa's face darkened with rage almost instantly.Her jaw clenched, and her dark, graceful eyebrows drew together in a furious scowl."Reno," she seethed."If I wasn't happily imagining all the pain you're in right now and reveling in your suffering, I would punch you between the legs so hard you wouldn't be able to walk straight for a week.But since I'm a decent, moral human being UNLIKE SOMEONE I KNOW, I just can't bring myself to hit a drunkard with a hangover, even a mangy lowlife like you."

"Mangy lowlife?" Reno echoed with a frown."Geez, I was just making a joke, Tifa.Are you always such a bitch in the morning?"

This time Tifa did hit him, and Reno, with his normally sharp reflexes dulled by alcohol, could only cry out and clutch his stomach in pain as she drove an expertly trained fist into his gut.

_ _

_I'm lucky she didn't hit me a few inches lower,_ he thought with a painful giddiness.

"Get up, you pathetic slob!" she snarled angrily, putting her hands on her shapely hips.

"I will, I will," Reno wheezed, hands covering his abdomen to repel any more blows."Just wait until the room stops spinning and I can tell which way is up and which way is down."

"Get off my table, now," she seethed, burgundy eyes burning with angry fire.

"Hey!" Reno snapped, starting to come out of the ozone."I don't even know where the floor is so quit bitchin' at me!"

Tifa raised her fist menacingly, her face as dark as a thundercloud.

"Ah!" Reno yelped."Okay, okay, I'm up, I'm up!"

He rolled over and off the table, the room spinning wildly around him as he did so.He tried to make a valiant attempt to land right side up, but at the last moment, however, his feet got tangled in the blanket, and he ended up falling flat on his butt on the wooden floor with a loud thud.The force of his posterior's collision with the ground made his teeth click together and sent a whole, new jarring pain up the length of his back.

_ _

_Damn.Today's just not going to be my day._

"Ow," he moaned, rubbing his backside.

Tifa rolled her eyes in half pity/half anger as she glared down at the red-haired man in the rumpled blue suit spread-eagled on her floor."Oh please, Reno, it couldn't have hurt that bad.Get your lazy, drunken butt up so I can give you that hangover remedy."

Reno lurched to his feet with a grunt, using a nearby chair as a crutch.His aching body and throbbing head screamed in protest at all his movement, but the Turk refused to give in to his ailments.Besides, he was used to be hung over.He practically went through this every morning of his life.

He waited patiently for the room to stop spinning before focusing on Tifa's retreating figure and asking, "You have a hangover remedy?"

"Yes," she answered, gracefully maneuvering her way behind the bar, where she promptly began gathering the materials she needed for her hangover cure that she thought Reno should invest a lifetime supply in."When you run a bar, it's always good to develop some kind of remedy for the disease that ails so many of your customers."

Reno snorted at her sympathy for drunkards like him and began to shuffle his way unsteadily over to the bar."You know, sister," he said."People drink because they want to.I say let the bastards suffer from their own 'disease,' as you so nicely put it.It's a self-inflicted disease, after all."

Tifa glanced up at him before busying herself again."Not everyone drinks because they want to, Reno," she said softly."Alcoholism is a disease with no cure.Some drunkards can't help themselves.It's like they're possessed or something."

The redheaded Turk gingerly eased himself onto a bar stool in front of Tifa, carefully not to miss the stool and land flat on his keister again."You have a cheery outlook on life," he commented with a sneer."Have you done an extensive study on the psychology of drunkards, Dr. Lockheart?"

She shook her head, brown hair shimmering underneath the lights and brushing her creamy shoulders."No," she said quietly."Just one."

Reno raised an eyebrow curiously."Oh really?And who would that be?Does Red have a drinking problem?"

"No," she said calmly."It's you, Reno."

He jerked in surprise."Me?"

She nodded, carefully pouring a generous amount of a nasty brown concoction into a glass."Yes, you.I don't know why you drink, Reno, but I can tell that it's not because you want to."

Reno laughed loudly, ignoring the burst of pain it caused him."That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" he exclaimed, leaning his weight on the bar, aquamarine eyes flashing with a mixture of harshness and mirth."Let me tell you something, honey, I drink because I _want_ to.I manipulate people and sleep with any woman who crosses my path because I _want_ to.I run my own life.I don't do anything I don't want to do.So don't give me any of that, 'You have a disease, Reno' crap, because I don't want to hear it."

Tifa met his iridescent blue-green gaze squarely with her burgundy one, unfazed by his harshly amused words or his blazing stare."Whatever you say, Reno," she replied calmly after he had finished his spiel.She placed the glass in front of him with an emphatic thud."Here, drink up."

The Turk eyed the overflowing glass dubiously."Congratulations, Tifa baby, I think you've created a new color.What the hell is in this crap, anyways?"

One corner of Tifa's full mouth turned up in a smile."Don't ask, Reno.Just drink."

She watched calmly as the Turk carefully lifted the glass to his mouth, wise enough not to sniff it before taking a petite sip. She watched just as calmly as he gagged on the concoction, his face scrunching up in disgust as he almost spit all of the liquid on the bar top.Her respect for him climbed a tenth of a notch as she saw him succeed in keeping the remedy in his mouth.Not just anyone could so that.

"What the hell?!" he exclaimed when he had stopped hacking and choking."What, are you trying to kill me or something?"

"'The remedy is worse than the disease,'" Tifa quoted wisely."Just pretend it's vodka, Reno.Drink it all."

Ignoring the glare he was giving her, Tifa diverted her attention to wiping up the mess she had made while mixing her "remedy."Watching him slurp and gag down the rest of the concoction out of the corner of her eyes, she silently wondered at the paradox of the fiery-haired Turk who had drunken himself into a coma a dozen times over, then claimed he did it because he wanted to.Who knew, maybe he did, but she didn't think so.At first she had thought that Reno was just as shallow as he made himself out to be, but hanging around him as more of a friend than an enemy had led her to witness the more complex layers of his "charming" personality.She now believed that there was more going behind those liquid blue eyes than others tended to assume.

Finished with his remedy, Reno took the glass away from his mouth in obvious relief and set in down on the countertop with a loud thud, looking proud of himself that he had finished the entire thing without throwing it back up.He had some of the dark liquid dribbling down his chin, and another thin stream had stained his shirt.

Tifa sighed."Reno, you are probably the sloppiest person I have ever met."

He smiled, Mako-enhanced eyes twinkling fiendishly._Those eyes would rival Cloud's in ethereal beauty,_ Tifa suddenly thought, _if they didn't seem to be always mocking people._She immediately shook away the thought; now was not the time to be romanticizing every unseen aspect of Reno.She had to admit, the Turk was…stunningly attractive and had a unique personality that she hadn't seen in any other individual in her lifetime.Actually, "unique" was too nice of word; "obnoxious" would probably suit him better.

"I may be the sloppiest person you'll ever meet," Reno said amicably in response to her insult."But since I'm also the most sensitive and chivalrous person you'll ever meet, I thank you for you little 'potion' and that lovely compliment you just gave me, Tifa.I always knew you loved me."

Tifa rolled her eyes."Reno, you wouldn't know sensitive or chivalrous if they came up and kicked you in the teeth."

He grinned widely, showing her all of the objects that "sensitive" and "chivalrous" would have kicked had they come across him.Tifa just shook her head, smiling slightly at his antics.Satisfied with himself, Reno clumsily wiped his chin off with his jacket sleeve as Tifa cleared away his glass and rinsed it in the sink.

Flicking a wayward lock of red hair away from his face, Reno glanced towards the window to see that though the sky was a lighter shade of gray than he remembered from the night before, rain was still pounding incessantly against the panes of glass with ghastly motivation.

"It's still raining," he commented, resting his scarred cheek on one hand, happy to find that his head was already starting to clear.Tifa's loony mad scientist/mud pie brew had actually worked.

She glanced at the window as she shut off the faucet, a distant and troubled look entering her eyes."Yeah," she said softly."The streets are already flooding.It let up for a little while right before dawn…when Cloud and the others left.But then it—"

"Wait just a damn minute!" Reno suddenly burst out, gripping the countertop tightly with his hands as he leapt to feet that still weren't quite steady."You mean they already left for that cavern?!"

"Yes," Tifa replied wearily, knowing that the others' abandoning Reno would incite such a reaction.

"They went to go look for the Running Man, who kidnapped _my_ President, and they had the nerve to leave me, _his chief bodyguard_, unconscious on a hard, uncomfortable table in a bar?!"

"Yes," Tifa sighed, suddenly feeling like crying at her own loneliness.

"THOSE ASSHOLES!" he exploded, blue eyes flashing with unchecked fury as he pounded the bar with both fists, shaking the shot glasses and making Tifa jump instinctively."I'm going after them!"

"Reno, calm down," she said flatly, starting to wipe the counter again, as if to cleanse the Formica of all his rage."You and your little hissy fits are so unnecessary and predictable. And you're not going after them so just sit back down.It wasn't their fault they had to leave without you because you had drunken yourself into a coma and they didn't want to hear you gripe and complain the entire way over there."

Reno sneered, aquamarine eyes glinting frostily."It's not my fault either," he mocked."I have a 'disease' and I don't drink because I want to."

Tifa sighed and rubbed her face with her hands."Reno," she said patiently."For what it's worth, you're not the only one they left behind."

His eyes widened in surprise."They left without telling you, either?"

She shook her head."No, Cloud told me, but…Look, Reno, I don't really want to talk about it.Are you hungry?"

His stomach suddenly rumbled loud enough for everyone in Midgar to hear."Um, yeah," he muttered reluctantly, wishing his stomach had just kept quiet.

She nodded, relieved that she would be able to take her mind off of things by cooking."Sit down and I'll fix you something."

Reno hesitated, for a moment contemplating rushing out the door, but his stomach rumbled insistently, demanding to be fed, and a sudden crash of thunder discouraged any more thoughts of sloshing around in rain outside.He trudged over to his stool again and plopped down on it with an internal sigh, still simmering with the residue of his rage.

_ _

_Oh well,_ he thought glumly as he watched Tifa remove eggs from the refrigerator, _at least I don't have to parade around the mountains, slipping in the mud and getting soaked from the rain.Ha!Looks like Mr. and Mrs. We're-So-Independent-And-Can-Leave-Our-Leader-Behind-With-A-Hangover Rude and Elena came up on the short end of the stick.Who cares anyways?They can go to hell._

But deep down, Reno knew that he wasn't angry with his friends.He couldn't afford to be angry at the only two real friends he had at the moment; unless, of course, he counted Cloud, Tifa, and all the other members of AVALANCHE as friends, but he wasn't ready to consider them as anything more than acquaintances at the moment.No, Reno wasn't angry that Rude and Elena had left him behind; he was hurt.Turks were supposed to stick together, no matter what._Friends_ were supposed to stick together.For almost a year, Rude and Elena were all he had had to rely on, and they on him as the three remaining Turks rose from the ashes of the tyrannical Shinra Inc. to become the new bodyguards/second-in-commands under President Reeve of Neo-Shinra.They had fought together, hurt together, laughed together, got drunk together, and now they run off and leave him here with Tifa…

Hey…Tifa…

Reno snapped out of his morbid thoughts and watched the young brunette as she fried bacon in a pan with her nimble hands.Already the smells of cooking food were making his stomach growl eagerly.He allowed a small smile to come to his lips as his eyes lingered on her curvaceous, slender figure with its tiny waist and large breasts.Yes, Tifa Lockheart was a fine piece of meat, Reno had to admit.Rude certainly knew how to pick them.Her wine-colored eyes were intent on what she was doing, and her long brown hair spilled across her shoulders as she pushed at it impatiently with her free hand, lost in thought.

It then became obvious to Reno that there was something bothering her.Her full, pink lips, usually having cautious smiles even for him, were turned down in the corners, ready to frown instead of smile.There was a nagging worry evident in her eyes, a worry that darted fleetingly across her beautiful face in wispy glimmers, only allowing Reno brief glimpses of what was going on inside her pretty head as she tended to his needs.

"Why did they leave you behind?" he asked suddenly, folding his arms on the countertop and resting his chin on the blue fabric of his rumbled suit jacket, the epitome of casualness.

Tifa glanced up in surprise, as if she had forgotten he was there."Hm?Oh.I said I didn't want to talk about it, Reno."

The distress in her voice that she tried so hard to hide made him use a softer tone when he said, "Hey, I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Let's talk about something else, then," she said tiredly, setting her finished bacon aside and turning her attention to the eggs.

"Tifa…" Reno said.

She looked up in surprise to meet a pair of curious but seemingly sincere aquamarine eyes that had lost all their mocking demeanor.For a moment there, Reno had sounded just like Cloud.

Tifa quickly averted her gaze and muttered, "Cloud told me I needed to take care of you."

Reno jerked in surprise."Me?Since when does the leader of AVALANCHE care about the well-being of any Turk, especially a worthless drunk like me?"

She shrugged."I don't know.I mean, no offense meant to you about the whole Turk/drunkard thing.Turks and drunkards are people, too, right?"

Reno ran his fingers absently over the scar that adorned his right cheek."Pretty much, yeah," he muttered.

"But I still don't know why Cloud would leave me behind," she fretted as she flipped an egg with her skillet and an amazingly steady hand despite her obvious agitation."I mean, I know he's not being sexist or anything; he is well aware that I can handle hiking and walking around in the rain better than Cid or Barret, who hate being wet.It makes them grumpy."

"God forbid," Reno laughed.

Tifa went on, oblivious to his attempt to ease her mood."And Red can't smell anything in the rain, and since he walks on all four feet, he'll have a harder time maneuvering through flooded areas.And Rude and Elena are Turks, and Clouds not even sure he trusts the Turks yet."

Reno made no comment, realizing that she was talking more to herself than to him, and if she _was_ talking to him, she wanted him to listen and not make any snide remarks.

"I mean," Tifa rambled on, "if Vincent and Yuffie and Reeve were with us, then he probably would have taken Vincent or Reeve with him since they don't complain too much and Vincent's really agile and Reeve's really smart even if he can't fight that well._Then_ I could understand if he left me behind since only three people can fit in the Tiny Bronco comfortably."

"Tifa—" Reno started to say, sensing that she was reaching the zenith of her agitation and frustration.He was afraid she was going to have a breakdown or something.

"But what I can't understand for the life in me," she went on feverishly, almost completely unaware of his presence now."Is why he took everyone else and left me behind!I mean, he knows that Reno can take care himself here alone, and if Cloud had wanted someone to keep an eye on him so he didn't break anything in a temper tantrum, Red could have stayed.He's much better with all that 'Let's all calm down' stuff than I am—"

"Tifa—" Reno said again, leaning forward and peering into her worried face, which was still focused on the cooking eggs as she went on with her frustrated tirade.

"Maybe he didn't mean anything by it," she continued, mumbling now."Or maybe he was just looking for an excuse to leave me behind.Maybe he thinks I'll have a breakdown or something, or maybe my presence just aggravates him so much that he can't—"

"Tifa!" Reno bellowed, making her jump so violently that she nearly dropped the spatula.

She stared blankly at him for a few moments that seemed to last forever, lost for the time being in the aquamarine lakes that were his eyes and wondering why he had yelled so loud.Oh yeah, she had been…

"God, Reno, I'm sorry," she immediately apologized, ashamed of herself."I just got all caught up in my own problems.I didn't mean to dump all that on you.I'll be quiet now."

Blushing profusely, she returned her attention to the patiently waiting eggs, trying to not notice how hard her hand was trembling as she handled the spatula.

Reno waved his hand in dismissal, wanting to comfort her and wanting to laugh at her at the same time."You don't need to apologize, sister.I put a crack in the dam and it all came flooding out over me.That's all."

Tifa shook her head wildly, not meeting his gaze."No, Reno, those were my problems, my petty worries.I had no right talk your ear off about them."

_ _

_And why did I have to tell Reno, of all people?He's just going to get drunk and blab out everything to an entire bar. Damn!I've really gotten myself into a predicament this time, and all because I was lonely and wanted someone to talk to.If Yuffie were here, I might have talked to her about this, but since she's not…_

Reno rolled his eyes and ran a hand absently through his untamed red hair."Please, enough with the apologies.You're making me sick to my stomach.Besides, don't worry about anything concerning Spike.I'm sure he had some obscure reason for leaving you here that only he understands."

Tifa raised an eyebrow curiously, still not looking into his eyes.Was Reno actually trying to comfort her?Wow, that would be a first.

"But what was it?" she whispered, poking at the eggs."I don't understand him."

Reno smiled, flashing rows of white teeth."He's a guy, baby, you're not meant to understand him."

"Then what am I meant to do, Reno?" she asked with some apprehension, expecting a perverted or degrading answer.

"Beats me," was all he said, spreading his hands in a gesture of ignorance."I don't understand women."

She sighed."That's quite an amazing thing, Reno, considering that you've been with so many."

He scowled, graceful auburn eyebrows drawing together."That's a pretty harsh thing to say when I'm being perfectly _chivalrous_ to you.Besides, there isn't really much to understand about my bitches."

Tifa started to snap at him in anger, but held her tongue because he was being "chivalrous" to her for a change.

"Anyways," Reno continued, stretching his arms over his head and arching his back until a section of his pale, well-muscled belly could be seen."I'm sure you precious Cloud only left you here because he had your best interests in heart."

She glanced at him briefly before returning her attention to the stove."And what would those be, Reno?"

"Who the hell do I look like, the *&$%ing Answer Man?I'm not Cloud, thank God, but I _am_ a guy, and if I were a guy like Cloud who was involved with an astoundingly attractive, kind, generous woman like you, then that's what I would be thinking."

"Rude and Elena left with your best interests in heart," she said quietly, surprisingly the both of them.

Reno made a peculiar hissing noise through his teeth and narrowed his eyes resentfully."Going for low blows today now, are we?"

Tifa shook her head."I'm not trying to cause you any pain; I'm just telling you the truth.They both didn't really want to leave you behind.I could tell when they were about to leave this morning.Elena kept glancing at you, and Rude was uncomfortable, too."

He snorted disdainfully."They were probably afraid I was going to wake up and bitch them out."

"No, they were just worried about your well-being.Everyone knows that you blame yourself for Reeve's disappearance."

Reno lifted his upper lip in a sneer, but didn't say anything, wondering if almost a year of no espionage or manipulating enemies had made him and his emotions transparent to the people around him.Usually, Reno was most talented at fooling people into thinking that he was someone that he really wasn't.A Turk was required to know many techniques, after all, not just battle tactics.It was Reno's charm and ability to make spur-of-the-moment decisions that had made him talented in this area of his job, at least during the reign of the Shinras.

The truth of the matter was that he _did_ blame himself for Reeve's disappearance.Who else was there to blame?One of the Turks' chief jobs was to protect the President at all costs, and he had failed miserably.Reno didn't feel as if he owed Reeve for anything, certainly not giving them a job again, but he was relatively upset that he had failed at one of the objectives he had been hired for – protecting the President. The kidnapping had taken place right around the corner, not ten feet from where he had been walking casually down the hall, and he had been too late to stop it.

Failure.

Pathetic failure.

He laid his head on his folded arms dismally, a scowl on his handsome face as he berated and bashed himself silently, hating himself more than ever at the moment.Couldn't he do anything right?It seemed as if his whole life was a mass of failures and mistakes, one right after the other.His entire existence on this Planet was one big mistake.What world needs yet another born failure in a world of born failures?

Tifa finished with her eggs and glanced up, noticing with some alarm that Reno's expression had taken on a morbid look that she had never seen on his face before.His chin was resting on the arms of his blue suit jacket, and his fine eyebrows were drawn low to his eyes in a perpetual frown.He drummed his fingers idly over one of his scars, so close to the tender flesh around his fathomless eyes, which were misted in deep contemplation.

"Reno, it's not your fault," she said soothingly as she heaped his breakfast onto one of her plates, trying to ease the pain that she had unintentionally stirred up in his mind.

The redheaded Turk snapped out of his dark reverie and glared at her."Hey, baby, if I want your opinion, I'll ask for it.You don't know anything about the way I am or the way I feel so just…leave me alone."Those last words made his harsh comment sound more like a whine, and they both knew it.

Tifa didn't respond to his remark, not even to scold him for calling her "baby," a bad habit that he had developed.She knew he was hurting, and he was hurting because she had mentioned the source of his pain.So instead of snapping at him, she just smiled patiently and set his breakfast in front of him, handing him a fork to eat with.

Reno stared at her for one more moment before turning his attention to his food, eating with such vigor that one would have thought it had been years since his last meal.One of the first things she had noticed about Reno, next to his obnoxious personality and womanizing ways, was that he always ate his food quickly without even knowing that he was doing so.Living in the slums of Sector 7, Tifa had noticed that several of the children there ate in similar fashions, practically inhaling their food in fear that the nourishment they so desperately needed would be taken away from them, or, more accurately, stolen from them before they could finish.Reno was just an older version of those children, living proof that lifelong habits die hard.Even years after Tseng had taken him off the streets and polished him up, the Turk apparently couldn't shake the nagging feeling that simple things such as food would be taken away if he weren't careful.This unconscious habit of his made Tifa's heart soften as she imagined how hard a life he might have had before Tseng rescued him.

"Hey, Reno?" she said awkwardly, wringing her hands together.

"Yeah?" he responded around a mouthful of eggs.

"Thanks for, you know, listening to me and all.It helped to get some things off of my chest."

Reno shrugged casually, seemingly embarrassed by the simple words of gratitude and unable to speak around all the food in his mouth.

_ _

_I'd better give him something to drink before he chokes,_ she thought with a hint of amusement as she watched him manage to swallow his mouthful in one big audible gulp.

Taking a glass out of the cabinet, she filled it with fresh orange juice from the refrigerator and set it before him, careful not to slosh any on the counter.

Reno glanced at it briefly before turning to her."Orange juice?I haven't drunk any of that crap since I got pneumonia and Elena insisted on playing Florence Nightingale.Don't you have anything better…like some beer?"

Tifa shook her head and gave a short laugh."No, Reno, no beer for breakfast.It's bad for you."

He batted his eyes, apparently over his bad humor of a few seconds before."Please?" he begged, trying his best to look pitiful.

"No," Tifa said firmly, attempting vainly to stifle a smile.

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

She burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity of tough old Reno asking begging her for alcohol in such a childish way, but shook her head again."No, young man," she scolded good-naturedly, wagging a finger in his face."Eat your breakfast."

Reno gave a melodramatic sigh."Aw, you're no fun, honey."

Tifa gave another short laugh and walked out from behind the bar, leaving Reno to devour his breakfast.With her boots thudding loudly on the wooden floor, she walked reluctantly over to the window and looked out.Darkness everywhere.The angrily churning gray clouds continued to belch forth the rain that had upset the balance of nature within their wombs, becoming so heavy and burdening that it had to be released.The streets of Kalm were, for the most part, deserted as the citizens fled indoors to escape the torrents of rain that poured down on them incessantly.Only here and there, Tifa could see a die-hard workaholic trudging to their place of business, be it the Materia Shop or the Weapons shop or one of the other stores in the quaint country town, clad in slickers and boots.Tifa's eyebrows drew together in distress as she once again thought of Vincent and Yuffie having to stay the night in a flooded cave.Her agitation only increased as she thought of Cloud and her other friends going to investigate the very same cave at this moment.

Pushing the thoughts away with a great force of will, Tifa turned away from the window and what dismal scenery it had to offer, undoing the drawstring on the curtains and letting them fall to cover the dark portal as she did so.A glance to the bar told her that Reno was still happily crunching his bacon, and she allowed herself a small smile when she noticed he was swinging his booted feet like any little kid, in sync with a musical tune that was only in his head.When Reno wasn't being a disgusting, obnoxious, drunken, womanizing pervert, he was almost…attractive.

_ _

_Oh, god, I'm so worried and lonely that even Reno's beginning to look good.This is pathetic._

Tifa strode over to the table that had served as Reno's bed the night before and picked up the mischievous blanket that had tripped him up and caused him to fall on his backside.She folded it carefully with her gloved hands just like she had watched her mother do so long ago and gently laid the quilt on the tabletop, smoothing it with her fingers as if giving it her seal of approval.That done, she rearranged the chairs Reno had upset in his collision with the floor, pushing them under their proper tables.

It wasn't until she had finished all her odds and ends that she realized that she and Reno had nothing to do but wait for Cloud and the others to come back.God, she hated feeling useless.And with all this time on her hands, all she had to occupy herself with was her own petty worries about…everything.Usually she had Cloud around to keep her company, and if he wasn't there, Marie, Tifa's assistant, was always bustling around and making cheerful conversation about anything and everything.Her bar was always filled with light and laughter, and one of her AVALANCHE friends had usually been there on a visit or just passing through.Now, with just her and Reno to occupy the empty space and fill the silence, her Final Heaven bar seemed just as lonely and desolate as the town outside its wooden walls.There was nothing for her to do, nothing to keep her mind off of her worries and fears, unless, of course, fighting with Reno counted.She didn't want to even _think_ about asking him what he wanted to do to pass the time.

A loud belch brought Tifa out of her idle thoughts.She looked to her left to see that Reno was finishing the last bits of his breakfast.With his back to her, he looked to be a lonely, dark figure in a blue suit slumped at the bar in some ghost town on the Road to Nowhere.His long red ponytail hung down to the space in between his shoulder blades, a single rope of liquid fire showing up vividly against the dark color of his signature blue suit.The rest of his hair stuck up wildly from the top of his head, a screaming part of his untamed, rebellious nature trying to break free from the cage of society.Other strands around the sides of his face drooped downwards to fall across his sunglasses and against his scarred cheekbones.

Tifa suddenly remembered brushing away one of those strands of fiery hair the night before when Reno had been in the grips of some horrible nightmare.She recalled the way his shadowy form had thrashed on the table, how he had whimpered deep in his throat, and how he had muttered endlessly about someone called Mika…

"Hey, Reno?" she said cautiously as she moved to stand next to him, staring at his scarred profile.

He was more interested in chugging his orange juice down."Yeah?" he mumbled absently.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Ask away, baby," he responded as he lifted the glass to his lips.

She took a deep breath, suddenly incredibly nervous."Who's Mika?"

Reno gagged on his orange juice, spitting it all on the counter in front of him in a great shower.The glass fell from his hand, hitting the counter with a thud and rolling over to the bar area before crashing into the sink with the tinkling of glass, spilling the remains of the juice like blood from an open wound as it went.

Tifa, shocked and alarmed, backed up a step in trepidation as Reno whirled on her, wiping his mouth viciously with one of his coat sleeves.His face was as dark as the thunderclouds outside, and just as angry-looking, with his scars accenting the rage and suffering burning in his slightly luminescent eyes like a demon's unchecked fury.His mouth was twisted into what might have been a grimace, or a sneer, or maybe even a primitive, bestial expression of anger.His hands were curled into tight fists.At that moment, Reno was the scariest thing Tifa had ever seen.

But when he spoke, his voice was surprisingly low, but it was a dangerous sort of low, a deadly breed of low.

"Where did you hear that name?" he asked slowly, putting careful emphasis on every word, daring her to lie to him.His eyes were burning her.

"Reno—" Tifa started to say, shocked at the sudden change that had overtaken him, every bit as horrifying as when Vincent shifted into his Chaos form.

"WHERE THE &%*# DID YOU HEAR THAT NAME?" he suddenly raged, a dozen horrible emotions making his voice so agonized that the sheer force of it caused her to back up another step even though he had made no threatening gestures…yet.He hadn't even risen from his seat.

"Where, Tifa?!" he hollered again, voice shaking the very foundation of the building."Where?!Where did you hear that name?!"

"F-From you," she managed to force out, clutching at the countertop with her right hand while keeping her left curled up in a cautious fist, knowing that if he attacked her, then she would have to defend herself the best way she could.

"From me?" he snarled angrily."Liar!Lying bitch!Tell me where you heard that name!"

Tifa felt a spark of anger cut through her fear as that harsh name left his mouth and penetrated her consciousness."I'm telling you the truth," she snapped, refusing to flinch as she met his burning gaze squarely."You were talking in your sleep last night, for your information!"

"And what the hell were you doing listening to me in my sleep?!" he demanded, apparently not satisfied with the answer.

"You think I came down here last night just to listen to you?!" she growled."Of all the pompous, egotistical bastards!Why should I give a care about the stuff you say in your sleep?!I was only up waiting for Vincent and Yuffie to come back, and you just happened to have fallen asleep on the table because you were so drunk you didn't know your left foot from your right!That's what happened, Reno, and if you don't believe me, well then tough shit!That's your goddamn problem, not mine!And don't you ever call me a bitch again, or I swear to God, you'll regret the day you were born!"

Tifa stopped her tirade, her chest heaving for breath and angry tears burning her eyes.She was caught between wanting to strangle Reno and wanting to run up to her room and never come out again.She couldn't remember the last time she was this angry.

Reno, in the meantime, was staring blankly at her, no emotion on his face at all.The silence between them was heavy and thick, broken only by the rain and thunder outside the bar and by the ragged breaths that Tifa drew into her chest as she watched Reno carefully through the haze of her anger.He looked like he was staring right through her, seeing things that weren't there; his aquamarine eyes were misted like they had been when she had mentioned Reeve's disappearance.All of his former anger had been washed away by a tide of melancholy emotions that only flitted briefly across his face in wisps.

Suddenly, the redheaded Turk snapped out of his trance-like state, blinking his eyes slowly as if the eyelids had the world's weight attached to them.His gaze fell on Tifa's flushed, furious face, and he hung his head in shame, fiery ponytail swooping from behind him to lie on his shoulder like a faithful companion.

"Sorry," he muttered, voice barely audible."Sorry…so sorry…Tifa."

She didn't respond, unable to get her thoughts in order enough so that she could formulate an answer.For some peculiar reason, she thought that he wasn't apologizing just to her.The silence reclaimed the room until Reno broke it again.

"God," he whispered, not looking at her."I'm so sorry…so sorry."

As Tifa stood there looking at him, looking at how he hung his head in shame, how he murmured the same words over and over again, how he nervously rubbed one of his wrists as if some unseen pain ailed him, she felt her anger begin to ebb.The blood stopped thundering in her ears, and the violent tide that had made her breaths fast and ragged suddenly dissipated as she realized that Reno was actually feeling remorse over the things he said.

"It's okay, Reno," she said soothingly, taking a cautious step closer to him."You don't have to apologize.Maybe I just shouldn't have asked."

He shook his head miserably, strands of red hair flopping into his eyes."No…I'm sorry.It's just…Mika…"

Suddenly unable to look upon even this ruthless Turk in such suffering, Tifa averted her eyes from his forlorn figure and knelt down to pick up the stool she had apparently knocked over in her haste to get away from him.Her hands were shaking, but she managed to put the stool back in its rightful spot without another mishap.Reno didn't even glance at her the entire time, his head solemnly bowed, lost in heart-wrenching memories that were his and his alone.

Rising shakily to her feet, Tifa rubbed her hands briskly over her miniskirt as if to purify them after committing some sort of blasphemy.She stepped over to stand in front of Reno, who still refused to raise his head.She fidgeted, not knowing what to do or say.It would have been easy just to go up to her room and leave Reno to his own suffering, but something kept her firmly rooted to the floor in front of him.Maybe she was remembering how he had listened as she vented her pain and frustration, or maybe she remained there because he had managed to make her laugh on a dark, gloomy morning when she, abandoned by the one she loved most and worried sick over her missing friends, had vowed that she would never be able to laugh again.

"Reno?" she said cautiously, talking to the top of his bowed head."I wouldn't have said the name if I knew it would cause you so much…pain.If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, but if you ever do…I'll listen."

He was silent for a moment, but then stirred slightly, spinning in his stool so that he was facing the bar again.He lifted his arms and rested his elbows on the countertop, burying his face in his hands.Tifa's face revealed nothing but pain and sympathy for a man she never thought she would ever feel anything for.

"What did I say?" he suddenly asked, voice muffled by his hands.

"Pardon me?" Tifa asked politely, unsure of what he meant.

"Last night," he clarified, voice thick with pain."What did I say…while I was sleeping?"

Tifa shifted her weight from foot to foot, choosing her words carefully."Well, not much.You were…in distress, I think, thrashing from side to side and getting tangled in the blanket.You were whimpering, deep in your throat, so low that I could barely hear it.You said Mika, but that's all you said.The rest was just incoherent mumbles that I couldn't understand.I think you were having a nightmare."

Reno laughed mirthlessly, rubbing his face with his hands."Tifa," he said softly."I don't remember anything from last night, but the words 'Mika' and 'nightmare' don't belong in the same sentence.Mika didn't belong to the nightmare world.She was…something else, something beautiful."

Tifa put a comforting hand on his shoulder, feeling him trembling slightly.She had never seen Reno like this before; it frightened her.

"Who was she, Reno?" Tifa asked as gently as she could, not wanting to cause him any more pain but feeling that he needed to get this off of his chest.

The redheaded Turk stirred, removing his hands from his face and turning to look at her.The pain in his Mako eyes was almost a physical thing that gripped her heart and squeezed, begging for something to ease its suffering, a painkiller for its aching plight or a razor blade to put it out of its misery.

"Mika was…" Reno started, staring at Tifa intently with those new agonized eyes of his."Mika was someone from the past, someone I failed to protect when I should have been there for her.She…actually loved me…and I let her die.I failed her, just like I failed Reeve."

"Reno…" Tifa whispered tearfully, touching the side of his face gently.

"It's all my fault, Tifa," he suddenly said, voice rapidly gaining volume as his eyes bore into hers.

"No, Reno," she insisted."It's not your fault."

"Yes it is!" he burst out, leaping to his feet and staring down at her, their faces just inches apart."My whole life has been just one big catastrophe after another!I'm a born failure, and you know it as well as me!First Mika, then Tseng, now Reeve!Where does it end, Tifa?!"

The young woman didn't reply, only reached up and placed her hands on either side of Reno's face, trying to calm him down with her touch, something that her mother had done when Tifa was younger, one of the only memories she had of her mother; the others were cloudy and blurred at the edges.Whenever little Tifa had gotten herself worked up over something, her mother would place one of her frightfully delicate hands on either side of her daughter's distressed face, the gentle touch of those loving hands with their soft palms easing the turbulent emotions that had accompanied Tifa's childhood years.

Now Tifa did the same thing to Reno, gently cradling his agonized face with her gloved, calloused hands, tender fingers touching both of his scars carefully, the smooth scar tissue feeling alien underneath her fingertips.Reno just stared back at her blankly, not pulling away, his arms limp at his sides as if too stunned to react.A dozen unnamable emotions flew across his face simultaneously, all peeking out at Tifa from the emerald blue portals that were his eyes.She met their ferocious gazes bravely and patiently, trying to chase them away with the serenity and solace in her aura.

Reno suddenly exhaled sharply, his eyelids slowly coming down to cover his eyes, depriving the painful emotions from their view of Tifa or of the world.She watched calmly as his dark brown eyelashes fluttered indecisively, wandering whether or not to pull back the gates and expose maelstrom of Reno's soul, letting his darkness seep into the world or perish in the light of the goddess holding his face so gently.

His eyes slowly opened, revealing his aquamarine Mako eyes once more.What Tifa saw there shocked her.A wound.A deep, festering wound that had been etched so deeply that it was a great rift in his soul that would never close.A wound that had been reopened and scarred so many times that it was tough, cold, and unfeeling to the world around it, oblivious to the light and love that others tried to offer.This wound thought itself to be impervious to all types of damage that the universe could dish out.Suffering had hardened it; time had deepened it.This wound was raw, big, and tough as nails.

This wound was bleeding, and its blood was thick and viscous.The liquid pain filled the crevasse, becoming a never-ending river of fire that flowed through the core of Reno's being, avenging its endless agony by inflicting harm on others, using harsh words and murderous hands as its outlet.Tifa saw all this through a pair of aquamarine eyes the color of Lifestream itself, a pair of eyes that belonged to a man, a man with a disease, a man who nature had forgotten and had left out in the cold to fend for himself.

Forever alone.

Just like her.

It was then that she realized her wound was bleeding, too.

Before she knew what she was doing, Tifa found herself slipping her arms around Reno's neck and holding him gently against her, trying to ease his suffering that was kith and kin to her own.For a second, Reno stiffened in surprise, all of his muscles going taut and rigid like a cord ready to snap.He was still trembling with ailments of his spiritual injury that had reared its head again.Tifa laid her cheek against Reno's flaming hair and rubbed his back comfortingly.

"You'll be okay, Reno," she whispered."Everything will be alright in the end."

He didn't respond, but instead heaved a shuddering sigh and melted into her embrace, his muscles going slack as he yielded to the comfort she was offering him.Wrapping his strong arms gently around her tiny waist and burying his face in her shoulder, he pulled her to him, hugging her as tightly as he could.Tifa gently tugged on his ponytail, surprised at how soft the fiery strands were.As far as she could recall, she had never hugged Reno before.Well, he had hugged her once when he had been completely drunk off his ass and had been just looking for an excuse to grab hers.

She recalled with sudden amusement how she had stood there, shocked by his atrocious act until Cloud had reacted for her and tossed Reno out the door and into the muddy street, Rude and Elena apologizing profusely before leaving the bar.Tifa had hated that side of the redheaded Turk, but she now realized that there were totally different sides to him, sides that he had unintentionally bared for her to see, sides that maybe his closest friends had never seen before.Reno was a walking mass of paradoxes and clashing emotions, but she had somehow connected and empathized with just one of those torturous emotions.She had suspected from the first time she had talked to him on a relatively friendly basis that there was something in Reno that mirrored a similar something in herself, but she hadn't known what is was until she had embraced him in a motherly fashion, and he had hugged her back, needing the comfort as much as she did.

Tifa sighed with a mixture of sadness and contentment, still rubbing Reno's back soothingly and rocking him gently back and forth, his body warm against hers.She hadn't known how much she had needed to be held until now.Silence reigned once more in the bar, but it was an anxiously peaceful sort of silence, a patient silence waiting for something to happen.

Then the door to the bar suddenly flew open, and Cloud Strife walked in.

Shocked at the sudden flurry of motion that neither of them had been able to hear or detect, Tifa and Reno both leapt back from each other and stared at the sopping wet figure standing in the doorway.

Silence hung in the air, gloating.

_ _

_It had to be him,_ Tifa thought guiltily._Cloud had to be the first one to walk in and see me and Reno like that.He doesn't know that it was completely harmless. He's doesn't know about Reno's wound; he doesn't know about Mika…_

But for all her rational thoughts, Tifa still felt an ashamed flush come to her cheeks as she stared back at the unnaturally still figure of her one true love, not even wanting to think about what was going through his head.Cloud's spiky blond hair had been plastered to his head by the rain, but a few rebellious strands still managed to poke out of his scalp in defiance to the elements.Most of the sun kissed locks had fallen into his face and into his Mako blue eyes, but even through that wall of hair, she could see that those beautiful eyes she loved gazing into had become as heartless and cold as the ocean upon seeing her and Reno.His mouth was set in a hard, grim line, and he didn't move.

"Hey, Strife," Reno said casually, his usual cocky grin in place as he reseated himself in his bar stool."You're back early."

"Apparently," Cloud responded dryly, eyes darting apathetically between Tifa and Reno.

"Yo, Cloud!" Barret's voice thundered as the man's lumbering bulk appeared behind Cloud in the doorway."Move your spiky ass or I'll move it for ya!"

Eyes still locked on the duo by the bar, Cloud stepped aside as the others came charging in to get out of the rain.They were all thoroughly soaked and no one was at all happy.Elena's mascara was running down her pale face in rivulets, making it appear as if she had been crying black-tinted tears.Cid had pulled his flight goggles over his eyes, apparently trying to offer them some protection from the rain.Red was shaking the rain from his short, fiery coat, something he never usually did since he didn't like to splatter people or the floor with water, but since all of his friends and the floor were both wet, he figured, hey, why bother? Barret and Rude both didn't have much hair to get wet, but their clothes were still waterlogged, and whereas Barret was cursing at the top of his lungs, Rude remained stonily silent, never one to complain much about anything.

"Ew!" Elena exclaimed, wringing water out of her short blond hair."It's so gross out there!My makeup's running and my suit is ruined!Why couldn't we have taken the Highwind?"

"Goddammit!" Cid bellowed, looking like an out-of-water scuba diver with his rain-splattered goggles and soaking wet flight suit."I've explained that to you a dozen times over, woman!The Highwind doesn't fit in the cave!And we didn't want to have to swim in there and listen to you bitch the entire time so we took the Tiny Bronco!"

"Yeah!" Elena snapped, putting her hands on her hips."'Tiny' is the right word for your stupid, broken little plane!"

Cid's blue eyes grew wide behind his goggles."The %$#@ you'd just say?!I know you didn't just call my—"

"Glad you're back guys," Reno interrupted smugly, looking comfortable and dry leaning against the bar, all traces of the agonized man with the bleeding wound gone now.Tifa couldn't even believe she had ever seen that tortured soul through such leering aquamarine eyes.

"I see you didn't die yer sleep.Damn," Barret growled as he stared enviously and the haughty Turk sitting next to a very contrite-looking Tifa across the room.The young brunette still couldn't bring herself to meet Cloud's eyes.

"So," Reno said congenially as he stared at the waterlogged members of AVALANCHE and his fellow Turks standing close to the doorway and dripping water on the floor."How was the cave?Did you find anything?"

Silence.Everyone glanced uncomfortably at each other before finally turning their attention to Cloud, their unspoken leader.The young man, however, didn't return their glances; he was still staring emptily at Tifa, his face absolutely emotionless.Water dripped from his blond hair and ran into his eyes, but he didn't seem to notice.All he saw was the beautiful woman fidgeting next to the red-haired demon across the room.

_ _

_I knew I shouldn't have left them alone.I should have let her come with us and left Reno here.Who cares about the damn bar?He's…taking her away from me.I shouldn't have left them alone._

Everyone except Tifa stared at Cloud for a few more seconds, perplexed by his silence.They immediately perceived that something was wrong with him, but they were at a loss to guess what and were too wet and spiritually depleted to give it much thought.

Finally Rude said quietly, "The ship is gone."

Reno jolted in surprise, all arrogance leaving his form as he leapt off the bar stool."What do you mean, 'the ship is gone'?" he demanded incredulously.

"He means the ship is gone," Cid grumbled, removing his wet goggles and wiping them on his equally wet jacket."It ain't there anymore."

"I thought it was a _ghost_ ship," Reno commented sarcastically.

"Ghost ship my ass," Barret growled, plopping heavily into one of the chairs, his prodigious weight making the wooden apparatus squeak in protest."Someone sailed that sucker out of there, and you can bet your ass that Vincent and Yuffie were probably on it."

"Nice call, Strife," Reno said acidly, his upper lip pulled back in the patented "Reno sneer.""Some ghost ship of yours."

"%$&@ you, Reno," Cloud deadpanned, stunning everyone.Cloud rarely swore so vividly.

Reno's aquamarine eyes narrowed dangerously."Don't take out your frustration on me, Strife.I'm just the drunkard you guys left behind."

Big blue Mako eyes glittered with unchecked anger."You're hardly an innocent, Reno."

Reno glared back unflinchingly."And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Red suddenly cleared his throat, sensing the impending violence that hung in the air."I believe we need to focus on the situation at hand, my friends.Save these petty disputes for another time.The stakes are higher now."

"W-What do you mean?" Tifa stammered, speaking for the first time.

Red glanced at her before continuing."We found no ship in the cave.Though it could have been washed out to sea by the rain, such a thing is very unlikely considering how deep in the cave it was.It is the general assumption that someone steered it out of there, presumably the Running Man."

Reno folded his arms across his chest."The hell would the cowardly bastard want with an old, crappy ship?"

"Plenty of thangs, Turk," Barret grumbled."To get across the ocean for one; he wouldn't have had to go through Junon or Costa del Sol that way.Or maybe to take Reeve somewhere for safe-keeping, ya might say."

"Where would he take him?" Reno asked impatiently, more frustrated with the situation than with Barret's obscure phrases.

"The hell would I know?" the big man snapped."All I know was that Vincent and Yuffie were on that ship, either as stowaways or as prisoners."

"But _how_ do you know?" Tifa asked desperately.She had been hoping that Cloud and the others would bring Vincent and Yuffie back with them, but now that it was obvious their two friends were in greater danger than they had originally assumed, she felt a yawning pit of despair opening beneath her.And the fact that Cloud was acting standoffish wasn't helping to ease her state of mind.

"Their chocobos were outside the cave," Red explained, the flaming end of his tail twitching in distress."Both of the birds still had their packs attached to them, but no Vincent or Yuffie.The chocobos looked as if they had been out there for a while.They were starving."

"Well," Reno announced."I don't think they're on the ship, wherever the hell it is now.You couldn't _pay_ Yuffie to get on a ship, even one that's supposed to be abandoned.Unless, of course, you tempted her with materia."

"Maybe she wasn't given much of a choice," Rude muttered darkly.

Tifa, thankfully, didn't hear the tall Turk's morbid comment, and said with a spark of hope, "Maybe they were hiding somewhere else in the cave?Who knows how many tunnels there are under there?"

Red shook his head miserably, padding silently across the wooden floor to get out of the puddle of water he had shaken from his coat."We searched that cave to the best of our abilities and we found nothing.The majority of it was already flooded from the rains.If we really wanted to do a thorough search, we'd have to assemble everyone and search when the water level goes down.The Tiny Bronco can only take us so far into the cave, and climbing is quite a difficult, if not impossible, feat to accomplish with all the mud and darkness."

"What if they didn't even go into the cave?" Reno suddenly asked."You know what a pansy Yuffie can be sometimes."

"They were in the cave," Cloud said coldly, glaring at Reno."But they didn't come out."

Reno still looked dubious."How the hell do you know, Strife?Them Jenova cells in you send your whacked-out brain some psychic message?"

Cloud was unfazed."Cid, show them what you found."

Cid hesitated, glancing at the distressed and anxious Tifa back to his solemnly silent teammates and back to his cold-voiced leader."Sure, kid," he finally answered with obvious reluctance.He began fishing through his waterlogged pockets.

"What did Cid find?" Tifa fretted, wringing her hands together nervously.

"Cid took a dip in a big pool of water," Elena said with a spark of amusement in her high-pitched voice."He finally put those goofy goggles of his to a practical use."

The pilot glared at her."Goddammit, woman!I've been listening to your griping all mornin'!Next time your ass stays here!I'd rather have goddamn Reno with us than you!"

"No complaints here," Cloud deadpanned, face still devoid of all emotions.

Only Tifa and Reno understood the statement that dropped from his lips so coldly, issuing from a heart that had frozen up in his chest at the sight of them in each other's arms.The others, however, didn't have time to ponder his strange statement because Cid suddenly pulled an object from the pocket of his jacket and held it up for Tifa and Reno to see.

Tifa gasped, her heart plummeting to the bottoms of her feet.Reno cursed under his breath and plopped down on his stool again, expression closed and morbid emotions locked away tight.The object held from Cid's gloved hands was a long piece of cloth, dark green in color, with a Wutainese symbol in the middle of it.A slender thing, the forest green cloth had seen bloody battle after bloody battle, and had been splattered in the process.It was well worn from traveling, having been stitched together again and again when it was sliced and diced by swords of its owner's opponents.The ends of the cloth, however, were what really caught people's attention.They were shaped like a pair of spades or hearts, a peculiar addition that Tifa had always wondered about.

It was Yuffie's headband.

_Author's note:I loved writing this chapter, even it if took me forever and its super long.Reno and Tifa are two of my favorite characters, next to Vincent, of course, and I loved writing something featuring just them.Like Tifa and Cloud's big blowout a couple of chapters ago, this whole Tifa/Reno thing just sort of took off on its own.What do you think?Should Reno give Cloud a run for his money? I'm seriously considering it._

_ _

E-mail [catalina2717@go.com][1]

   [1]: mailto:catalina2717@go.com



	10. Revenge is Sweet

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Ten**

**_ _**

**_Revenge is Sweet_**

_"Do your ancestors proud, Yuffie Kisaragi."Vincent Valentine_

_ _

"Hey, Vinnie!I just realized something!"

"What is it, Yuffie?"

"My damn headband is missing!"

Vincent didn't bother to reply to Yuffie's insipid chatter.Instead, he gripped the reins of their rented chocobo named Olive and urged the yellow bird faster with a gentle kick of his heel.Olive reluctantly increased her speed to a trot, struggling slightly under the combined weight of her two riders.The bird's large feet sank into the mud that bubbled out between the green grass, leaving a trail of footprints that marked their passing.Vincent wasn't particularly happy about leaving such an obvious trail, or about the fact that the rain and thunder kept drowning out all other sounds, greatly deterring his ability to hear impending danger, which he felt was very near.

Pivoting around in the saddle, being extra careful not to upset the wet and miserable Yuffie sitting in front of him, Vincent took in the entire view of the mountains and hills around him, searching for anything that appeared to be out of place or threatening in nature.Ever since they had departed from Junon early that morning, Vincent couldn't shake the feeling that some unseen enemy was following them.His paranoia manifested itself in a peculiar itch between his shoulder blades that he kept reaching back to scratch repeatedly throughout their homeward journey to Kalm.His head felt unnaturally heavy, a sensation that he had always attributed to a danger that was waiting to surprise him in the near future.

Dissatisfied with the perfectly normal surroundings that he saw around them, Vincent turned his attention back to the trail and scratched his back with his metal claw while firmly gripping the reins with his right hand.

"Why do you keep scratching, Vinnie?" Yuffie suddenly demanded, her sour mood making her words harsh."You have fleas or something?"

Vincent's only reply was to spur the chocobo into a faster trot, its feet squishing in the waterlogged grass that was filled with the rain the earth had gotten sick of absorbing and decided to spit out.Yuffie had been in a bad mood all morning.All traces of the frail young woman that had shared a bed with him last night and fallen asleep in the crook of his arm after she had shed tears for a monster that loathed his own nature – that young woman had vanished the moment they had started out in the ceaseless rain.Vincent felt another strange burst of emotions as he recalled the peculiar serenity he had felt the night before, falling asleep with her in his arms.The heat of her flesh had seeped through her covering of blankets as he lay curled up against her, feeling that sweet warmth spread to his own body like a wild forest fire.The scent of her clean skin and recently washed hair had haunted his dreams like a most welcome phantom, triggering off emotions that had gone unfelt for years.Vincent was at an utter loss to explain the things he felt, so he locked them up for safekeeping, an addition to the nest of cherished memories that would probably reawaken when Yuffie was already a grown woman with a husband and children of her own.By that time, she would have already forgotten about the morbid, self-loathing man/monster who had held her as she slept against him one dark, stormy night.

"Vinnie!" Yuffie suddenly snapped, jolting him out of his thoughts.

Vincent glanced down at the top of her head, which was resting underneath his chin."Yes, Yuffie?"

"Are we there yet?"

The dark gunslinger rolled his eyes."What do you think, Yuffie?"

Her head shifted as she glanced around at her surroundings, which were composed of green, rolling hills that were already starting to overflow with water and huge heaps of mud that the violent rains had washed down during their siege on the earth.At the current moment, the two world-weary travelers were moving through a valley-like depression between two sharply rising hills, rain pounding their already thoroughly rain-pounded bodies like a warrior's battering ram.The bruise on Yuffie's cheekbone was aching something terrible and the beginning of a headache was starting to form at her temples.She was in no mood to be admiring scenery at Vincent's request.

"I don't know where we are," she grumbled moodily, folding her slender arms across her chest."I wasn't paying attention."

"We just passed the Chocobo Ranch," Vincent explained, red eyes roving over the hills with obvious mistrust as they passed."We should be coming up on Kalm in a little while."

"Good," Yuffie said with a satisfied tone."I don't know how much more of this I can take with the rain and this slow-ass chocobo and you all tense and stuff."

"What?" Vincent asked in surprise.

"You're tense," Yuffie announced impatiently, clearly not happy about having to repeat herself.

"How can you tell?" he demanded, not liking to think that he could be read so easily.

Yuffie rolled her stormy gray eyes."C'mon, Vincent.You may think I'm pretty stupid, but I'm smarter than I look.I'm practically sitting in your lap here, and you're wandering how I know you're worried about something?Your muscles are all bunched up in your stomach, and you're holding the reins too tight.There are knots in your legs too."She tapped his thighs with her palms as if to prove this point."You need to loosen up, Vinnie.You said yourself; we're almost home."

Vincent didn't reply, silently impressed at how much she had been able to discern about his state of mind just by taking note of his body's condition.No one had pulled that number on him in years…

Yuffie sensed that her dark companion wasn't relaxing and twisted in the saddle so that she could look up at his face.The effort nearly dislocated the upper part of her body, but when she saw the intense look on Vincent's face as he glared off into the distance, trying hard to see something that he knew must be there, she realized that he was more than tense – he was actually _jittery_, a trait she had never seen before in Vincent.

"What's wrong, Vinnie?" she asked softly."Is there something out there?"

He glanced down at her with those burning eyes of his, searching her face to see whether or not she was sincere.Yuffie stared up at him worriedly, her bad mood evaporating in the face of her friend's anxiety.

Vincent stared at her a moment longer before returning his attention to their surroundings, scanning them relentlessly."I sense…something.I'm not sure what it is, but I don't like it."

"Is it dangerous?" Yuffie asked, miming Vincent's actions and examining the valley they were passing through.

"I don't know," he answered quietly."Just keep your eyes open."

Yuffie nodded in agreement, her right hand dropping down to rest on the Conformer, which was strapped to the chocobo's flank.Since Vincent was holding Olive's reins, she had to be on special lookout. If trouble just dropped in on them, Yuffie was ready to react quickly in case her companion couldn't get to his gun in time to deal with the threat.

Another fifteen minutes of riding passed with nothing out of the norm happening.Both Vincent and Yuffie were on high alert, all their physical discomfort forgotten as they kept a constant watch for any impending threats.Yuffie pushed at her hair impatiently as it fell into her eyes, dripping with rain like a waterfall of silent teardrops from the heavens.Her keen gray eyes squinted to keep rain from seeping into them as they roved over the hills on either side of them.Now that she was looking closer, she did recognize this place.She, Tifa, and Cloud had raced chocobos down this valley before (Cloud won because he cheated, that little turd).Yuffie was silently shocked at how different this sun-kissed valley looked in the middle of a thunderstorm that never seemed to end.

The young ninja was so absorbed with her surroundings that she nearly fell off the chocobo when Vincent suddenly reined it in sharply, earning an unhappy wark from Olive.

"Damn," he muttered, so low that his voice could barely be heard over the thunder and rain.

"Crap," Yuffie agreed when she saw what he was looking at.

They had come to a dip in the valley.It was a shallow dip and not very threatening when riding on a chocobo or in the buggy.Yuffie had always enjoyed driving the buggy into this particular depression in the land, making her fellow riders woozy with the undulating motions as she whizzed into the dip going at top speed.But now the dip didn't look so fun, particularly because it was filled to the brim with swampy looking water that made Yuffie's stomach churn with disgust.She didn't even want to think about what might be hiding in those murky depths.

"What a predicament," she grumped, glaring at the water as if she could evaporate it with the fire in her angry gaze."Can choco-butt here make it across?"

Vincent hesitated, then shook his dark head, oblivious to the strands of hair that were obscuring his vision."No, I think that water's too deep.Olive's just your average chocobo.She'll probably get stuck in the mud that has to be hiding down there."

"So we're gonna go around it?"

He nodded."That seems to be the more preferable course of action…unless, of course, you want to try and swim across ourselves."

Yuffie shuddered as she gazed at the gross-looking water."I think I'll pass on that one.So, how are we gonna get around it?"

Vincent glanced warily at their surroundings."We'll have to climb up one of these hills and go around the pool from above before we get back on the ground on the other side."

She examined the hills that looked climbable and spotted one that looked friendlier than the rest.She pointed to her right."How about that one?"

Vincent followed the direction of her finger and nodded in agreement."Good eye, Yuffie."

The young woman flushed under the unexpected praise, glad that he couldn't see her beet red face.

Vincent managed to maneuver the somewhat apprehensive Olive halfway up the face of the muddy hill before one of her feet got stuck, and she began to wark plaintively.The two riders disembarked and worked the kinks out of their stiff joints before turning their attention to Olive.Yuffie grabbed the reins and tugged while Vincent worked on freeing the chocobo's stuck leg, being careful not to let the bird kick him in the face.Together, the two AVALANCHE members hauled the chocobo the rest of the way up the hill with Yuffie leading the yellow bird and Vincent playing drogue, one hand resting instinctively on the Death Penalty as he glanced with intense suspicion at the land they now stood over.

_ _

_Something_ was there; he knew it.All he had to do was wait for the threat to show itself, something that he hated doing.He would have much preferred it if he had the element of surprise, but he also knew that as long as they were ready for danger, their odds of surviving an attack were good.And he had the feeling that the attack would be coming soon; their unseen enemy couldn't stay hidden forever.

Yuffie waited with uncharacteristic patience as Vincent vaulted nimbly up onto the grassy ledge of the hill, which should probably more accurately be called a miniature mountain due to its height.The wide, grass-covered ledge that they now stood on was just one of the many smaller levels that seemed to wrap around the whole hill until the summit, which towered a good one hundred feet above their heads.

Gesturing to his left, Vincent said calmly, "Let's go.If we follow this path, we should be able to come down on the other side, close to Kalm."

"Can we rest under that overhang first?" Yuffie asked cautiously, knowing that he was anxious to get going."Bird brain here has mud in between her toes."

Olive warked pitifully and held up her right foot, which was caked with mud.

Vincent stared at the girl and bird before answering reluctantly, "I suppose, but only for a little while."

Yuffie nodded, her hair flopping down into her eyes."Of course."

With Yuffie leading the way, the trio strode to the overhang with their feet sloshing in the wet grass, which was literally drowning with water.The overhang wasn't very big, but it provided a little shelter from the pouring rain despite the fact that the area under it was already soaked from last night's downpour.Yuffie immediately strode over to a large rock and plopped down, narrowly avoiding sliding down its wet surface, and set to work getting the mud from between Olive's toes.The chocobo, which was very placid and obedient for an average "do-do bird" as Reno called them, stood patiently as Yuffie tended to her.Vincent didn't seek the shelter of the overhang, preferring instead to stand outside in the rain to keep watch, his hand resting on the Death Penalty.The path had taken them to a place about twenty feet directly above the swampy pool, which churned restlessly as the rain pounded it with unstinting ruthlessness.Vincent narrowed his luminescent red eyes, trying to see what lie at the bottom of the pool, but the water was thick with mud and grass, preventing him from catching a glimpse of the murky depths.

Under the overhang, Yuffie finished cleaning Olive's feet and gave the chocobo a pat on the neck, leaving a muddy handprint behind on the wet yellow feathers.Olive warked softly and nibbled Yuffie's hair in some sort of chocobo gratitude.Laughing, Yuffie shooed the chocobo's beak away and pulled out a bundle of greens to give to the bird, which immediately transferred her affections to the leafy greens.

The young woman watched Olive eat for while before glancing over to see that Vincent was standing unnaturally still in the rain, a dark sentry with unsurpassed majesty, a refugee from another life and time.His long hair, dyed an even deeper shade of black from the falling rain, hung down his back like a dark waterfall, showing up vividly against the blood-red cloak that reached to the backs of his knees.

"Hey Vinnie!" Yuffie called suddenly.

"Yes, Yuffie?" he responded without turning.

"Get out of the rain before you catch a cold!"

"I'm fine," he answered.

"If this hidden enemy has remained hidden this long, do you really think they're going to come waltzing out just because you decided to stand like a numbnut in the rain waiting for them?"

Vincent turned to stare at her calmly.

Yuffie patted the rock beside her."C'mere and sit down.Me and Olive have run out of things to talk about."

Vincent hesitated, taking one last long look at the valley below before giving up and taking a seat next to her on the rock, his leg pressed against hers.Yuffie jumped slightly at the warmth that seeped through his waterlogged pant leg, but soon recovered and leaned against him slightly, her bare arm brushing his.There they sat in a strangely comfortable silence with Olive munching happily on her greens and Yuffie enjoying Vincent's company.

"How's your shoulder?" he suddenly asked, ruby red eyes focused on the falling rain.

"Oh," Yuffie said dumbly, surprised that he was instigating conversation.Her hand instinctively went to her left shoulder, which was still wrapped in his bandana."It's a little sore," she replied."And there's a really gross scar there, but it's not infected or anything.Why, did you want your headband back?"

He shook his head."No.You can keep it."

"Okay," Yuffie said, strangely pleased."Thanks.Sort a souvenir of our little adventure together, huh?"

Vincent turned his head to stare at her, and Yuffie flushed when she realized how absurd and wistful her statement had sounded, like she didn't want all this pain and strife to end just so she could keep him around a little longer.The words "our" and "together" made it sound as if her time spent with him chasing the Running Man and being chased by the Faceless Men was among her most cherished memories.And, she suddenly realized with a start, it was, but not because she could go back to the bar and brag about how she had survived through thick and thin.No, the events of the past few days were special to her because she had shared them with Vincent and Vincent alone.

It wouldn't have been the same if it had been Tifa with her, or Reno, or even Cloud.There was something about Vincent that was starting to draw her to him like a moth to a flame.She couldn't stop what she was feeling.Moreover, she didn't _want_ to stop it.Even years from now, if she was married and had kids, and Vincent had disappeared like a shadow into the night, never to be seen again, she would always remember falling asleep in arms as the Black Stinger zipped across a turbulent, hungry ocean that had tried to devour her whole.She would always remember how she had wept for him as she lie next to him in bed and how he had come up behind her, holding her to his body so gently, so sweetly, his chest against her back and his knees touching the backs of hers, his hair tickling her ear…

_ _

_My God, what's happening to me?_

This new string of thoughts deepened her blush, and she looked away from Vincent's burning gaze, staring at her yellow sneakers as water from the ground seeped into them."Uh, sorry," she stammered, more embarrassed than she ever been in her entire life."That didn't come out the right way."

But she was lying, and she knew it.The words had come out exactly the way she had wanted them to, at least in her heart.But she couldn't tell _him_ that.

Vincent was silent for a long time, and Yuffie was about to hastily suggest that they be on their way again when she suddenly felt his cold, rain-sodden fingers touch her chin and apply gentle pressure, turning her face towards him.Reluctantly, she raised her gray eyes to focus on his face, her heart thundering in her chest with some nameless emotion.

Garnet eyes accented by flowing black hair and pale skin stared down at her upturned face with uncharacteristic tenderness that had virtually no roots in a soul warped and frozen from blood and heartbreak.Yuffie knew that time had not eased the suffering of Vincent Valentine, nor thawed out the frozen wasteland that had killed his heart and body, trapping him in the guise of a 27 year old man and making him believe that he was a monster, the ultimate crime against a man who had committed many in his life for reasons that were his own.Anyone else would have said that Vincent deserved all that had befallen him.

But Yuffie didn't think that way.If Vincent was cold, heartless, and dead inside, then why was he staring at her like this?His red eyes, usually as cold as the bitterest winter, had a peculiar intensity to them now that made her breath catch in her throat.They bathed her in a gentle light, making her forget about her aching shoulder and soaking wet clothes.His long eyelashes were wet from the rain, tiny droplets shining on the ends of them like miniature crystals.

Yuffie's heart thundered in her ears as that all-too-familiar heat spread across her body.She couldn't stop staring up at him, suddenly as fascinated by the porcelain color of his skin as she was with the unnamable color of his ebony hair.She was shaking slightly, trembling…what was this she was feeling?His face was suddenly so close to hers, his warm breath touching her cheek gently.

A wark suddenly interrupted them, shattering the spell that had been wrapping them together.That one screeching sound of alarm brought the two companions back into the world of thundering rain, missing comrades, and aching pains.

Vincent drew back abruptly, a wall slamming down between them as his garnet eyes froze over again, all the gentle humanity in that gaze wiped out just as abruptly as it had come.Yuffie blinked, trying to discern whether or not what she had seen in his eyes just a few seconds ago had been real or just some fantasy of hers.

She wasn't given much time to contemplate this abrupt metamorphosis, however, because Olive suddenly rushed by in a panic, warking loudly and trailing her reins behind her.

Yuffie instinctively leapt to her feet calling, "Hey, bird-brain!Get back here!"

But as she reached for the dragging reins, Vincent suddenly rose to his feet, narrowly avoiding whacking his head on the top of the overhang, and grabbed her arm in an iron grip.Yuffie looked up at him in surprise.

"Let her go," he said quietly, red eyes distant as he apparently focused on something that Yuffie couldn't hear.

"But—" she started feebly, watching as Olive sped off down the hill like a bat out of hell, flapping her useless wings in fright and running back in the direction they had come from.The bird appeared to be in a major state of panic, and Yuffie was at a loss to explain why.

"Quiet," Vincent ordered softly, squeezing her arm slightly for emphasis."This way."

He released his grip on her arm and took the Death Penalty from its holster, cocking the rifle with a hollow click that immediately sent Yuffie into instant battle mode.She reached over and grabbed her Conformer from where it had fallen in the mud after that stupid bird had taken off.Walking as quietly as she could and trying to ignore the rain pounding on the back of her head, she followed Vincent to the edge of the hill's ledge, stopping short for some reason as if below the ledge, she would see into the fiery pits of Hell.

Vincent peered over the edge, looking down into the valley.His back suddenly stiffened, and he tightened his grip on the Death Penalty.

"Yuffie," he said quietly."I think you'd better see this."

Gulping, the ninja walked over to the edge beside Vincent and peered down…

"No way!" she shrieked, her voice rising shrilly even over the sound of the thunder."No freaking way!This is impossible!Vincent, what are we gonna do?!"

Vincent didn't reply, his mind trying to process the fact that he had failed miserably at his task the night before.A shot missed during a sniping order.A mission failed.Fellow colleagues endangered.Unacceptable.

Five men were climbing up the face of the hill.

Five Faceless Men.

Yuffie's heart leapt into her throat as she beheld her opponents of the night before when they had been blasting across the dark sea on the Black Stinger.Though the faceless freaks were still obviously mobile, they had come up on the short end of the stick.Vincent may not have been able to kill them, but the force of their jet skis exploding from underneath them had certainly crippled them.Most of the flesh on their bodies was now blackened and charred, some skin even falling off as they stubbornly climbed up the hill, slipping and sliding in the mud.Three of the Faceless Men were missing either their entire or more than half of one of their arms, making their climbing slow but steady as they made good use of their remaining arm and their legs.One of the other Faceless Men was climbing as soundly as his companions in spite of the fact that he was missing a leg.The one remaining Faceless Man had no absent appendages, but was very badly burnt, his dark clothes falling off his fleshly form and taking chunks of charred, pink skin with it.

All in all, they were a pitiful but terrifying sight.

"What are we gonna do, Vinnie?!" Yuffie cried again, fidgeting with her hands, as the approaching monstrosities got steadily closer."If they can survive having their jet skis blown up from under them, what else can kill them?"

Instead of answering, Vincent aimed downwards with the Death Penalty and fired at the nearest Faceless Man, who was ten feet below him.Vincent's aim was, of course, flawless and impeccable, but even in its crippled condition, the Faceless Man still managed to dodge the bullet, jerking its entire body to the left while maintaining its balance.As if that wasn't bad enough, just as Vincent was preparing to fire again, the Legless Faceless Man and the Crispy Faceless Man reached behind their backs in unison and…pulled out their submachine guns!

Yuffie's mouth dropped open."Oh hell no!How did they managed to hold onto those things?!"

Vincent grabbed her around the waist and yanked her away from the edge just as a stream of bullets tore into the spot where Yuffie had been standing a millisecond earlier.

"Come on!" he yelled, running along the ledge with his cape flapping behind him.

Yuffie followed him, rain slapping against her face."Where are we going?Let's run to Kalm and get the others!It's not that far away now!"

Vincent glanced behind him to see that the Faceless Men still had yet to emerge from the valley and climb up on the ledge he and Yuffie were on."We can't go to Kalm," he told his young companion.

"And why the hell not?!" she demanded half in fear and half in anger."We're completely worn out, Vinnie!Your bullets aren't working and I'm going to have to throw left-handed!Cloud and his big ass sword need to get down here and do the work for us!"

"We can't lead these monsters into Kalm," he said flatly.

Yuffie shut her mouth, feeling her heart sink to her feet.Vincent was right; they could run away to Kalm and risk dozens of innocents being killed by a stray bullet or by the fantastical strength of the Faceless Men.She and Vincent were going to have to kill these monsters, right here, right now, before they could hurt anyone else.But…god, why did life have to suck to so bad sometimes?!

Vincent turned around a bend in the ledge's pathway and pressed himself against the wall.Yuffie joined him just as a stream of bullets whizzed past her head, so close that she could hear the air scream as they flew by.

"What are we gonna do, Vinnie?" she asked, pressing herself against the muddy wall next to her companion.

Vincent chanced a look around the corner of the wall before turning back to Yuffie."This wall should provide us with some cover for a short while.Only two of them have their guns, and they're remaining in one place to fire them.The other three are approaching us as we speak.We need to engage these things in close combat for our attacks to be effective."

"Guess it sucks that we both use long-range weapons," Yuffie commented weakly."We're gonna die."

Vincent suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her slightly, surprising her so much that all she could do was stare up at him dumbly."Yuffie," he said firmly, red eyes boring into hers."Get a hold of yourself.We are going to end this right here, right now.Now, I'm going to fire around the corner and try to disarm the two with guns.If the other three make it around the corner, you have to deal with them, hand to hand, understand?"

"Why me?" she whined.

"You're better at close range combat than I am," he said seriously.

Now _that_ surprised her; she had never even thought that Vincent noticed her style of fighting, much less thought it to be better than his."What makes you say that?"

"You're a ninja, aren't you?Of the Kisaragi-Chao bloodline?"

She squared her shoulders proudly at the mention of her family's line of ninjas."Yes, I am."

Vincent nodded, and released his grip on her shoulders, gently touching her cheek with his gloved hand, an indiscernible emotion in his red eyes."Do your ancestors proud, Yuffie Kisaragi," he said softly.

She nodded gravely.Vincent nodded in return, then whirled away from her, cocking his rifle and scooting closer to the edge.His face turned grim, cold, and hard – the face of the Turk assassin he used to be 28 years ago.Yuffie glanced wistfully at her Conformer before strapping it onto her back, where it wouldn't get in the way.Her "ultimate" weapon wouldn't be much use in this battle.

Vincent waited only one second before firing around the edge of the mud wall with the Death Penalty, taking great care not to get his arm clipped off in the stream of bullets that flew past the wall like a colony of angry bees.Yuffie waited anxiously, stretching her arms and legs absently to prepare herself to do her part in the upcoming battle.

She didn't have to wait long.

One of the Armless Faceless Men suddenly came rushing around the wall, his burnt clothes and pink-and-black skin glistening with rain.Before he could turn his attention to Vincent, however, Yuffie rushed forward and kicked him in the gut.

"Come one, you faceless freak!" she taunted, not knowing if he could understand her and not caring either way.Battle adrenaline coursed through her body like wildfire, sharpening her senses and quickening her reflexes.

The Faceless Man lurched forward and swung his remaining arm at her head in a right cross.Yuffie ducked easily and swept his legs out from under him just as his two companions came running around the corner, as if sensing their brother's plight.

Yuffie's stormy gray eyes darted coldly back and forth between the two newcomers."Okay, which one of you bastards is the one that shot me in the shoulder?Or is the prick back there with his little pop gun?"

The Faceless Men didn't respond, but advanced on her even though Vincent was standing unprotected a few inches away from them.Either they weren't the sharpest tools in the shed, or they were ordered to attack whichever of their opponents posed the great threat.Yuffie backed up a few steps as the Faceless Man she had knocked over lurched to his feet and joined his comrades in their upcoming attack on her.Yuffie continued to retreat backwards, trying to draw them away from Vincent while matching their imposing pace step for step.

One of them suddenly lunged for her with a speed that she hadn't, even with her past experience fighting in close range with these things, been expecting.Yuffie let out a cry of surprise and barely managed to evade the attack, doing a couple of rapid back handsprings to increase the distance between her and her attackers.She noticed in passing that she was moving in a sort of uphill direction, but being that she was very busy, it didn't click in her mind that she might be leading herself into a trap.

She held her ground grimly as the Faceless Men bore down on her, looking like matching triplets from hell with their tattered clothes and missing arms.Her eyes hardened.Focusing on the Lightening materia she had fitted into a slot in her Conformer, Yuffie made the conjuring motions, lifting her arms and tucking one of her feet behind the back of her opposite knee.

"Bolt 3!" she cried.No sooner had the words left her lips than Lightening eagerly rained down from the turbulent skies, only too happy to oblige her summons.The magic leapt onto the Faceless Men, super-powered bolts of pure nature's electricity crisping their flesh even more as they staggered underneath the devastating blow that the mastered materia had dealt them.

Yuffie's heart sank when she saw that the attack hadn't even injured the Faceless Men, only slowed them down for a second.They soon were striding towards her once again in that cruel, relentless way of theirs, stonily silent, as always, but possessing an extreme aura of menace.

"Goddamn!" Yuffie cursed angrily."Don't you guys ever give up?!"

The Faceless Men's only reply was to bear down on her faster.

"I'll take that as a 'no,'" she muttered, backing up.

A quick glance behind her opponents showed that Vincent had succeeded in disarming the remaining two Faceless Men.However, they had decided that the dark gunman needed a lesson in manners and were now engaging him in close range combat, every bit as nimble and powerful as he was.Knowing that Vincent could take care of himself, Yuffie turned quickly and darted away from her pursuers, wanting to fight them on the open ground she hoped was at the top of the hill.

Stopping only to cast Bolt 3 a couple of more time, to no effect, of course, Yuffie scaled the top of the hill, heedless to the pounding rain and the thunder that was now so much louder than it had been in the valley.Her heart thundered in her chest, filling her entire body with adrenaline and blood, her steady, unhurried breaths pumping in and out of her lungs and fueling her body with their airy sustenance.

"Oh crap!" she cursed as she reached the top of the hill, seeing a death drop into the ocean ten feet in front of her, a plummet to some nasty, jagged looking rocks on her right, and a muddy hillside to her left.Not only were all her escape routes cut off, but the space on top of the hill was not even as big as the front room as Tifa's bar.Yuffie's bedroom at Wutai was bigger than this!How was she supposed to fight three nearly indestructible men in such conditions?

Whirling around and nearly slipping on the wet grass, she saw that the three Faceless Men were still coming on strong, intent on her small but determined figure on top of the hill.Yuffie gulped and quickly cast another Bolt 3 with the vain hope that this one would blow them to smithereens and she would emerge from the battle victorious.

No such luck.The three Faceless Men shrugged off this attack like they had done all her others.They were only ten feet away from her now.

Taking a deep breath, Yuffie fell into a battle stance and screamed, "Come on, bastards!Bring it on!"

The Faceless Men were too happy to oblige.The one in the middle suddenly sprung at her with a feline ease that would have given Red a run for his money.The agility and speed of the airborne attack surprised Yuffie, barely giving her time to leap to the left side of the hill before the Faceless Man came crashing down in the very spot she had just been standing on, landing nimbly on his booted feet in a crouch.

Sobered by her close call, Yuffie wrestled to her feet just as the other two men cleared the top of the hill to join their companion.Together, they started to advance on her in a single, threatening row.

_ _

_I can't let them back me up too far,_ she told herself._They'll probably try and force me off the cliff.On the other hand, if I can get them to lunge for me, then they'll be ones to fall off of the cliff and go SPLAT on the rocks!Squashed tomatoes!_

Yuffie wasn't given any more time to devise a strategy, however, because one of her opponents suddenly executed the attack she had been dreading.He lunged forward like a football player, with his head lowered for maximum impact.Reflexes kicked in, and Yuffie dodged to the left…just in time to see another of Faceless Men heading towards her in the same lunge!

Letting out a cry of surprise and cursing herself that she hadn't figured that they would attack one right after the other, she rolled desperately across the wet grass, avoiding the second attack by the skin of her teeth.The third one, however, never came, but instead of being suspicious as to why her remaining opponent hadn't attacked her, she lurched to her feet for fear that she would roll off the edge and down the muddy hill.

A huge ball of pain suddenly exploded in her stomach, knocking the wind out of her as she fell to the wet grass, sliding across its slippery surface until she felt one of her arms dangling over the side of the cliff.It took a few moments for her head to clear, and it was only then that Yuffie realized the third Faceless Man had tackled her.She was now lying on her back in the wet grass with the humanoid creature on top of her, inches away from the 50 foot fall down a muddy hill.

"Get off me!" she wheezed, air whooshing back into her lungs.Thrashing from side to side, trying to the throw the Faceless Man off of her, she pummeled it desperately with her fists, but, like her Bolt 3 attacks, her efforts seemed to have absolutely no effect on her opponent.Her lashing punches only met slippery resistance on its smooth pink skin.

Yuffie screamed in pain as she felt the Faceless Man's only remaining fist bury itself in her side like a battering ram.Multicolored spots danced in front her vision, but she viciously shoved them away.Burning with rage, she raised her arms above the monstrosity, laced her fingers together and brought them down as hard as she could on the Faceless Man's bald head.It was like hitting a brick wall.Pain shot up her arms, not stopping until it reached her shoulders.Unfazed by her attack, the creature punched her in the stomach, and this time Yuffie nearly blacked out from the pain.

A gunshot suddenly spit the air, and something wet that was definitely not rain splattered her face.The Faceless Man sagged forward, its nonexistent face striking the wet grass next to her own head, the charred smell of its burnt flesh filling her nose.

She let out a screech of pure disgust and beat on the thing with her fists, realizing belatedly that the creature was dead.Twisting out from under the monstrosity, Yuffie gritted her teeth against the pain in her body and leapt to her feet, giving the dead thing a good kick in the gut as she did so.

Clutching her side in pain, she turned to see Vincent standing a few feet away from her, his cape torn and the Death Penalty trained on the sprawled figures of the other two Faceless Men who had pursued Yuffie up the hill.Some sort of sticky web had bound the two monstrosities together, and they were the process of trying to break free.

"Vinnie!" Yuffie wheezed, relieved to see that he was still alive.He had obviously been the one who had killed her attacker.If he hadn't been there…

Vincent turned to stare at her, and the young ninja was shocked to see that her companion had a split lip that was bleeding freely.His clothes were ripped in several places, exposing his porcelain skin to the elements.Even in their physically taxing travels with AVALANCHE a year before, she had never seen her friend look so ravaged.

"Are you alright, Yuffie?" he asked calmly.

She managed a painful nod, hunched over slightly."What happened to the other two?" she asked.

"Dead," Vincent said simply, keeping his eyes trained on the struggling Faceless Men.

"Are you sure?" she asked fearfully.

"As sure as I'm going to be," he replied."We need to get off this hill."

Yuffie glanced around incredulously, not sure she had heard him correctly.There were death drops on three sides of them, and the Faceless Men were blocking the path she had used to get to the top of the hill.There was no way out.

"Are you kidding me?" she shrieked."We can't get off this hill!We'll die if we go down any of the sides and those freaks will grab us if we try and jump over them to get to the path!"

Vincent looked around calmly, surveying his surroundings."We can't fight up here," he said."Eventually, they're going to knock one of us off of the cliff.We can go down that way, however."He pointed behind Yuffie.

Whirling around to see what he was looking at, she saw that he was gesturing to the humongous mud wall that made up one side of the hill.The dark mud was loose and slippery from the endless rain, some of it sliding down the hill in an eager avalanche, reminding her suddenly of the turbulent sea they had braved the night before.

Her mouth dropped open as Vincent came up beside her, studying the mudslide thoughtfully."No way, Vinnie!" she exclaimed."I'm not going down that way!Do you see how steep it is?!We'll die!"

He turned to stare at her calmly, red eyes glittering."We're going down."

Yuffie gulped, glancing at the Faceless Men, who had managed to get most of themselves disentangled from the web.Then she looked back at the mudslide that was her only chance of escape.She couldn't do it; she hadn't the strength or the endurance.But just because she was a coward didn't mean that she had the right to keep Vincent behind due to her lack of valor.

"You go," she said bravely, managing to speak past the lump in her throat."Go to Kalm and bring the others back.I'll stall them as long as I can."

She turned to see Vincent still gazing at her with a strange expression on his face.For a moment, even with the rain running down his face like silent teardrops and the strands of dark hair plastered across his pale skin, she received the weirdest impression that he was almost smiled.

Then, without another word, he grabbed her around the waist, pulled her against him, and jumped onto the mud wall.

Vincent's feet immediately went out from under him as they struck the sludgy hill, but he had been expecting that.He pulled a still stunned Yuffie into his lap, wrapping his arms around her.Wet mud sloshed against his back and hair as he curled up around the young woman, seeking to protect her fragile form from the ordeal they were about to endure.Vincent made a valiant effort to keep sliding down on his back, but soon their momentum picked up considerably, and he began to tumble head over feet down the muddy hill, with Yuffie held tightly in his arms.

Pain flared in every part of Vincent's body, but he ignored it with the ease of long practice and concentrated on keeping Yuffie from getting pinned underneath his weight as they tumbled down the hill.Mud soon coated every inch of his body like a shroud, weighing down his cloak and seeping into some of his open wounds.He shut his eyes tightly as some of the foul-smelling substance sought to blind him.Yuffie, amazingly enough, still hadn't made a sound.Her muscles were rigid, though, as she lay curled up against him.He knew he was going to get hell for this later on.

It seemed they rolled down the hill for an eternity, sharp rocks that protruded from the mud cutting into his pale flesh and battering his body.He was in so much pain that he barely noticed when the ground suddenly leveled off, and they began sliding across the mud instead of rolling.Vincent just happened to be sprawled on his back with Yuffie facing skyward.He offered a silent thanks to gods he no longer believed in that their positions hadn't been reversed.Yuffie would have surely been crushed underneath his weight.A small, slender 114-pound girl and a 168-pound man/monster with a metal arm and abnormal resistance to pain just couldn't compare. He instinctively dug his heels into the squishy mud, but instead of coming to a gentle stop like he had been hoping, his right shoulder suddenly struck another one of those damn rocks with enough jarring force to make him cry out in pain.Yuffie went flying from his arms to roll to a muddy stop a few feet from where he was lying on the ground. 

Making a point to ignore the pain in his aching shoulder, Vincent wiped the mud from his eyes with his equally muddy right hand and lurched to his feet, wobbling a bit, just in time to see Yuffie scamper up to him, her face as dark as a storm cloud and her gray eyes simmering beautifully with anger even through all the mud caked on her face.Vincent stared at her calmly, blinking mud from his eyes, knowing that she was about to start another one of her angry spiels.

She suddenly slapped him hard on the face, making his head snap to the side as sharp pain flared in his cheek."Don't you ever do that again, Vincent Orion Valentine!" she raged, clenching her small hands into fists."Or I'll kick your ass all the way to kingdom come!" 

_ _

_How did she know Orion was my middle name?_ Vincent wondered vaguely as he continued to stare impassively down at her.

She suddenly jumped forward, and he braced himself for another assault only to feel her slender arms encircle his waist as she laid her head on his mud-covered chest.She hugged him tightly, and he bit back a yelp as his battered body screamed in protest.

"Thanks for saving me, Vincent," she whispered, so softly that even he could barely hear her over the rain."That's yet another one I owe you."

Though he was a bit taken aback by her seemingly fickle shows of emotions, he sighed and wrapped his arms around her slender shoulders, holding her close for a few moments before saying, "We're not in the clear yet."

Yuffie shifted slightly in the circle of his arms, as if reluctant to let anything interrupt this moment."What is it?" she asked.

Vincent released her and stepped back, gesturing towards the top of the hill they had just skidded down.Already the rain was erasing the evidence of Vincent and Yuffie's passage, washing it away as if all their pain and strife were nothing to it.And at the top of the hill, two pink, fleshly figures with charred flesh and the remains of black clothing hanging stubbornly on to their ravaged forms, were rolling down the hill bowling ball style.

"Ah!" Yuffie screamed, burying her muddy fingers in her equally muddy hair."Just give up!" she called up to the tumbling forms of the Faceless Men."Don't you bastards ever get tired?!"

Vincent coldly surveyed the approaching Faceless Men with his callous garnet eyes before reaching into his waterlogged pocket and pulling out a Swift Bolt.Pulling his arm back as far as his aching muscles would allow, he launched the orb filled with compressed Lightening magic at the spot he predicted it would impact the rolling Faceless Men.Vincent's aim would have done any major league pitcher proud; the orb struck the first Faceless Man dead on, the Lightening magic exploding out of the orb and erupting onto the figures of their opponents like angry wildfire.The mud all around them simmered with the heat from the electric blast, tendrils of smoke rising up to the stormy sky.The Faceless Men, however, just kept right on coming.

"That crap doesn't work, Vinnie!" Yuffie exclaimed from somewhere behind him.He hadn't even seen her move away.

"Step back!" she urged."Let me try something!"

Vincent whirled to see orange and yellow lights blazing around her small figure like a fiery shroud, their reflections dancing in her gray eyes.As she pulled the Conformer off her back, he realized what she was about to do and hurriedly backed away, careful not the slip in the mud.

Concentrating, Yuffie spread her arms wide, then crossed them in front of her Conformer, the oversized shuriken hiding her face from view.Intense purple-red light began to blaze around her intertwined hands.

"ALL CREATION!" she cried, voice rising to a fearsome level as the prodigious iridescent energy, more powerful than any Ultima, a power that every Wutainese ninja dreamed of wielding, exploded from her small figure in a tremendous funnel, blinding Vincent as it blew past him and hit the Faceless Men dead on, engulfing their rolling forms in its otherworldly light.

Then the radiance faded from view, dissipating in the distance as Yuffie lowered her hands and waited anxiously for the afterimage of her Limit Break to stop burning in her eyes so that she could see what its effect had been on the Faceless Men.Even Sephiroth's One Winged Angel form had shuddered slightly underneath the barrage of pure energy she had just unleashed, and what were two faceless freaks when compared to the might of that megalomaniac Sephiroth?Surely they wouldn't be able to withstand the intensity of the attack.

But the Faceless Men were unlike any creature ever known to man.They were things out of nature, monstrosities that the Planet had never meant to exist.

All Creation had no effect on them except to burn shreds of their deteriorating black clothes off.On and on, faster and faster, they came, oblivious to the mud and cuts that they received from the mischievous mud hill.They were unstoppable.

Yuffie screamed in frustration when she saw her most powerful attack had barely fazed them. Vincent raised his Death Penalty and started firing wildly, his bullets sometimes striking the mud around their opponents and occasionally piercing their charred pink flesh, opening up new wounds that the Faceless Men paid absolutely no heed to.These creatures were smarter than both of them had ever expected; they knew to keep their heads covered so that the high-powered bullets the Death Penalty spewed forth would be unable to harm them.

Now in a slight state of panic after her ultimate Limit Break and Vincent's impeccable aim were having zero effect on the Faceless Men, Yuffie mentally racked all the materia she had in her Conformer and her Crystal Bangle, trying to find something that could be of use to them._Lightening?Nope, been there, done that.Fire?No way.Fire and rain are not friends.Exit?I wish, but can't do that.Lucky Plus?I think that damn thing is broken, anyways.Haven't been having much luck.Deathblow?Not from this range.God, this sucks!I've got crappy materia!_

Then her eyes fell on the last orb glittering patiently in the remaining slot of her Conformer, rain beading on its ruby red surface.It glowed steadily and proudly, knowing that it was the one materia she had refused to part with, no matter how much Barret had cussed at her and told her she was being a greedy, little thief for hogging it to herself.

_ _

_If this doesn't work…_

"Stand back, Vinnie!" she cried desperately as she began the conjuring motions, glowing runes of all different colors appearing around her transparent form.Vincent stepped back obediently as his figure too turned transparent and she said the words that would hopefully bring about the…

"ULIMATE END!!!!!"

_Author's Note: Whoa, I think I made this chapter way too long.And the weirdest thing was that it was practically all battle, and I hate writing battle scenes!I'm just no good at them, but at least I tried.Guess I did some overkill on this one.Oh well…_

_ _

e-mail [catalina2717@go.com][1]

   [1]: mailto:catalina2717@go.com



	11. Idle Hands

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Eleven**

**_ _**

**_Idle Hands_**

_"I'm tired of jes sittin' here doin' nothing!"Barret Wallace_

_ _

_Just when everything was making sense_

_You took away my self-confidence_

_Now all I've been hearing must be true_

_Guess I'm not the only boy for you_

_That's what I get_

_How could you turn me into this?_

##### After you just taught me how to kiss you

_I told you I'd never say goodbye_

_Now I'm slipping in the tears you made me cry_

_ _

_"That's What I Get"_

_NIN___

_ _

Silence reigned unchallenged for half an hour in the bar as Cloud and the others sat gathered around one of the tables, shifting in their soggy clothes and chancing cautious glances at the band of green material that Tifa had wrung in her hands like a handkerchief made for weeping.The young woman idly wrapped the headband of Yuffie Kisaragi around her gloved fingers again and again, perhaps weaving some pattern that only she could understand, then unraveling it again so that it pooled up on the wooden tabletop in a lonely pile.Then she would begin the whole process again as Cloud watched her blankly.

He sat back in his chair, the wood creaking as he did so, the only sounds made before the hungry, oppressive silence swallowed them up.On his right side, Barret and Rude glanced at him, as if expecting him to speak, to shatter the screaming silence so that plans could begin.But Cloud did no such thing.His Mako blue eyes were impassive as they kept themselves trained on the green material clutched in Tifa's hands.

What fate had befallen Yuffie and Vincent so that his young friend had somehow lost the headband that she refused to part with no matter how much Cid bitched at her when it slapped him in the face while riding in the Tiny Bronco?And where had that ship gone off to?And what about Reeve?The Running Man?It was all his fault that Vincent and Yuffie had ended up lost or captured or…dead.He was the leader; the burden was on his shoulders.He had sent them off with the unspoken expectation that they wouldn't really find anything.He hadn't even given them a Restore materia – he had been so certain that they wouldn't run into trouble.Now it was his responsibility to take the blame for their plight and find a way to get them and Reeve back.

Cloud wasn't ashamed to admit that he needed both Vincent and Yuffie to help them locate their missing friend and get to the bottom of the whole Running Man/Reeve/Neo-Shinra mess.Though Vincent sometimes scared the crap out of him and Yuffie could only be accurately described as a brat, they both had certain abilities and traits that were exclusive to them and only to them.They were part of AVALANCHE, and they were his friends.At the moment, Cloud would have given anything just to see his two allies again, hear their voices.

But no matter how much he told himself that he needed to snap out of his melancholy state and get crackin' again, the horrific image of Tifa and Reno in each other's arms kept rising up before him like bile in his throat.He couldn't escape from it by closing his eyes; it was burned onto the backs of his eyelids.He couldn't escape from it by fading back into the depths of his rational mind; all his thoughts were occupied with that one image of Tifa stroking Reno's hair and rubbing his back while he lay his head on her shoulder and held her against him…

It wasn't until Cloud had seen them together that he realized that the very thought of another man so much as looking at Tifa, much less touching her, in such a fashion made him angry beyond all reasoning.And that fact that it had been _Reno_ he had seen her with made it even worse.He hadn't liked Reno very much to begin with.Let's face it, trying to kill Aeris and dropping the plate on Sector Seven had just rubbed him the wrong way.Now Cloud, as leader of AVALANCHE, and Reno, as the unofficial leader of the Turks, would probably be working together more than any other two individuals in the search for Reeve.How was he supposed to work with a man that…that…

God, this got more unbearable by the minute.

Raising his dimly focused eyes from the headband in Tifa's hands, Cloud felt them settle on the woman who meant more to him than anything in the entire world.Her amazing burgundy eyes were trained on the headband in her fingers, and he could only see the perfect curve of her delicate eyebrows and how her long eyelashes shimmered in the light.Her chocolate brown hair had spilled over her bare shoulders, and he barely resisted the urge to reach across the table and run his fingers through it.

In the chair beside her, Red suddenly stirred, butting her shoulder lightly with his head, trying to ease her anxiety.As Cloud's empty gaze shifted to the fiery lion-like creature, Red turned to stare straight at him from across the table.Of all the people gathered, Tifa and Reno excluded, Red was probably the only one that had guessed at what was bothering Cloud.He knew that only something involving Tifa could unsettle the spiky-haired leader of AVALANCHE so much.

Now the gaze he sent as his one good eye locked onto Cloud's Mako blue ones was quite clear:_She wants comfort from you, not me, not Reno, not anyone else.You need to be there for her no matter what._

_ _

_If only it was so simple,_ Cloud thought dismally as he lowered his gaze to the table, slouching in his chair.He didn't look up again.

The heavy silence dragged on for another two minutes before Barret's fuse expired and he pounded the table with his gun arm.If Spike was going to mope there by himself and not act like the leader everyone knew he was, then, by golly, he was going to have to get everyone in gear until Cloud could get his spiky head screwed on straight.

"I'm tired of jes sittin' here doin' nothing!" he bellowed as everyone looked at him."We need to get to work on somethin'!We need some sort of plan!"

"Yeah, well since you so full of ideas, do enlighten us," Cid grumbled, a cigarette dangling from his lips and his arms crossed over his chest."I know I ain't got nothing that even comes close to resembling a plan."

"We need to get our priorities straight," Rude suddenly said.

"What do you mean by that?" Red asked calmly, but his golden eye glinted with suspicion.

"What Rude means," Elena picked up cautiously with a glance at her fellow Turk."Is that we need to see what's more important: rescuing Reeve or finding Vincent and Yuffie."

Cid's eyes narrowed."Does it matter?Chances are the same bastard that took Reeve captured Vincent and Yuffie, too.Don't go tryin' to make us pick favorites amongst our friends.They all mean the same to us."

"But think logically," Reno interrupted, defending the position taken by his friends."If the same person that captured Reeve _did not_ capture Vincent and Yuffie, too, then we need to see who's the one that needs the most help faster.Vincent and Yuffie are members of AVALANCHE, but that's all they are.Sure, Yuffie's pop may be some big shot Lord of Wutai, but she's just a little brat.Besides, much as I hate to admit it, Vincent and Yuffie are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.Reeve, on the other hand is the President of Neo-Shinra and…"

Rude picked up where his friend had left off."Alone and without Cait Sith, Reeve is virtually helpless."

Reno sat up straighter in his stool and placed his hands on his knees, staring hard at everyone gathered around the table."You all know what Rude, Elena, and I are saying is true.Reeve's more important here."

"Says who?" Barret demanded, brown eyes glittering dangerously."You and your Shinra buddies?Now, I ain't sayin' that Cat ain't as important as Vincent and Yuffie, but he ain't more important either, ya get my drift?"

"We understand," Rude deadpanned, expression hidden behind his dark sunglasses."I just have this bad feeling that Reeve's in serious danger."

Cid snorted."And Vincent and Yuffie aren't?"

Cloud abruptly grew tired of all the arguing."Look, everyone," he said flatly, gazing at his teammates and ex-enemies through the strands of his blond hair."Face it, there isn't much we can do right now.That cave is the only lead we have on Vincent, Yuffie, or Reeve.That cave is also basically off limits until we get the proper equipment and manpower to investigate it.When the rain dies down somewhat, we'll go take another look at the cave."His eyes darted coldly back and forth between Tifa and Reno."And this time _everyone's_ going."

Tifa shuddered slightly at the hidden meaning in his words as she wrung Yuffie's headband tighter around her fingers and lowered her head, too depressed to get angry at how unfair Cloud was being.Reno, however, had enough anger for the both of them.If she wasn't going to yell at Cloud for being an asshole, then he would gladly take up the job.

"You know, Strife," he snapped, narrowing his aquamarine eyes."You got serious problems with pride."

Cloud glared at him."And those would be what?"

"You've got too much of it, and you don't know how to swallow it."

Cloud didn't reply as everyone except Tifa and Red wondered what the hell was going on.

Reno's hard gaze never wavered from Cloud's angry face."You're taking out your anger and frustration on Tifa there because you know you're a failure…in more than one area."

"Since when did you become her personal defender?" Cloud snapped, tensing in his seat.

"Ever since you became her attacker," Reno counterattacked viciously.

The precarious damper Cloud had put on his anger suddenly snapped, and he leapt to his feet, knocking the chair down behind him.His Mako blue eyes blazed with anger."Reno, I'm so goddamn sick of your @#%$ing attitude!" he swore, hands clenched into fists.

Reno leapt to his feet, eyes on fire."You gotta problem with me?!" he demanded furiously.

"You know I do," Cloud seethed.

Reno dropped one hand so that it hovered over his nightstick."You want to take this outside, then?"

"Reno, stop it!" Elena exclaimed, not because she favored Cloud over Reno but because she knew that this wasn't going to help their situation.

Tifa suddenly leapt to her feet, eyes moist with tears and Yuffie's headband clutched tightly in one hand.It was clear she was tottering on the edge of a breakdown and was horrified with the way Cloud and Reno were behaving towards each other…all because of her.She felt it was all her fault.

"Stop it, you two!Stop it!" she cried, her gloved hands flying to her hair as if in intense pain."All this fighting is pointless!We need to look for—"

Just then, the door flew open, and Vincent and Yuffie strode in, covered with mud and looking like a pair of drowned rats.

Everyone in the entire bar felt their jaws hit the tops of their shoes (or in Red's case, paws) as they beheld their two friends, who, a day before, had been in tip-top condition as they set out for a cave to investigate the strange presence of a ghost ship.Now they looked as if they had been through hell and back a dozen times.

Vincent's hair was unbound and drenched with mud and rain, some of the larger mud clumps falling the floor with thuds as rain dripped off of his ravaged clothes to make a puddle on the floor beneath his muddy boots.His black shirt and pants were ripped in several places, the cloth hanging open like gaping doorways to reveal bruises and cuts gracing his pale flesh.His shirt had become untucked during the trip, and his entire right sleeve up to the shoulder had been torn off, exposing a nasty black and blue bruise.His red eyes revealed nothing, but his split lip and disheveled state told the story for him.

Yuffie was the more battered and ridiculous looking of the pair, wrapped in Vincent's cloak, which was so long that it dragged on the floor behind her.Her tanned legs were covered with mud and bruises; her yellow sneakers were in no better condition.Rips and tears dotted her modest covering of tank top and tan shorts, and rain had plastered her hair, unbound by her headband, to the sides of her face, a few wayward strands dangling into her stormy gray eyes.A huge, yellow and black bruise was swollen under her left eye; similar ones graced her slender belly and her right ribcage.

They were a truly horrific sight, but Tifa had never seen them look better.

That is, until Yuffie stamped her foot on the floor and yelled, "Don't just standing there gawping like a bunch of retards!It's freezing balls over here!Do something, you idiots!"

_Author's Note: Alright!A short chapter, at last.Thought I'd give any readers a break after those two last novel-length chapters.Thanks to whoever's reading this.Comments are always welcome._

_ _

e-mail [catalina2717@go.com][1]

   [1]: mailto:catalina2717@go.com



	12. One Big Happy Family

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Twelve**

**_ _**

**_One Big Happy Family_**

_"Goddamn.How the hell did you stand being around her for an entire day, nonstop?"Cid Highwind_

_ _

_And we stare each other down _

_Like victims in the grind_

_Probing all the weakness _

_And hurt still left behind and we cry_

_The tears of pearls._

_We do it. Oh we do it._

_ _

_"Tears of Pearls"_

_Savage Garden_

_ _

Yuffie frowned at her reflection in the mirror and tugged on the bottom of her borrowed tank top, whose straps kept sliding off of her narrow shoulders.All of her and Vincent's clothes had gotten wet when their chocobos were forced to wait outside in the rain for almost a day until the bird-brains decided being wet was not fun and ran for shelter.Both Yuffie and Vincent were going to be wearing hand-me-downs until their clothes dried.Yuffie was now clad in a white tank top and a pair of slightly large black shorts of Tifa's since Elena had turned up her nose at the prospect of Yuffie wearing any of her clothes.

Wincing at the pronounced ache in her bones, Yuffie reached up and readjusted the wayward straps and pushed her hair, still damp from the shower she had taken, away from her face.She sighed with sudden wistfulness as she beheld the girl in the mirror, for some reason very dissatisfied with what she saw.

Why hadn't she ever realized that she was so…unattractive?Her figure had acquired more curves over the past year, but they still weren't enough to rival the voluptuous figure of Tifa or even the feminine curves of Elena.She had none of their fresh beauty, either.If she tried putting on makeup, she looked like a clown.If she put on a skirt, she looked like, well…Yuffie in a skirt.If she cut her hair short, she looked like a boy.That was one of the other, secret reasons for letting her hair grow out – she was tired of being the bratty tomboy of the group.But in Yuffie's opinion, it would take nothing short of a face-lift to make her into something resembling beautiful.Her legs were too bony, her shoulders too narrow, her eyes too big, her hair too limp and plain, her face too round, her stomach too skinny.Damn!Why hadn't she ever noticed that there were so many things wrong with her?

_ _

_Maybe I did notice them,_ she thought, _only I didn't care or I didn't want to admit up to my many faults.How could I have been so blind?No wonder no one likes me.I'm as ugly as homemade sin in the heat of summer, and now this nappy bruise on my face makes me even more hideous!_

Yuffie touched her reflection in the mirror with trembling fingers, an immense sadness darkening her gray eyes and making her mouth turn down at the corners.Then she realized with a start that Tifa was standing in the doorway behind her with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Yikes!" she said, whirling around to face her older friend."Tifa!I didn't know you were there!"

Tifa smiled and walked over to Yuffie, her boots thudding on the wooden floor."Sorry," she said sheepishly."I got caught up watching you.Your face is very expressive."

"Does that mean I show too much emotion?" Yuffie asked, tugging on her tank top again and wishing that she had the figure to fill it so it wouldn't be so loose.

Tifa just smiled again, reaching out to adjust the shirt."No, expressive is a good thing, trust me."She fluffed up Yuffie's hair."Your hair's getting so long!Soon I can do all sorts of neat things with it!"

"And I get to be a Barbie doll!" Yuffie said with mock cheerfulness.

Tifa laughed and picked up a brush from the dresser."Can I put your hair in a ponytail?It's just long enough."

"Oh.Okay," Yuffie said uncertainly.She'd never worn her hair in a ponytail before; it had never been the proper length.

Tifa gestured to the chair in front of the dresser."Sit there.I can't reach with you standing up.You're almost as tall as me now!"

"I wish," Yuffie muttered, plopping down gratefully in the chair and trying not to focus on her reflection in the mirror.She knew Tifa was just paying her all these compliments because she'd seen her getting all depressed over her reflection.Yuffie wasn't sure how to react.On one hand, she wanted to tell her friend it was okay to drop the act; she didn't care about how she looked, right?But on the other hand, Yuffie was grateful for the support.Tifa had seemed sincere…

"Watch out.I have tangles galore," she told Tifa as the brunette brought the brush to bear on Yuffie's brown locks.

"Don't worry, Yuffie," Tifa said comfortingly."I know how to deal with long hair.I'll try and make this as painless as possible."

"Good," Yuffie replied nervously."I've had enough pain for one day."

Tifa laughed and started to get the tangles out of Yuffie's still-damp hair, starting at the bottom and working her way up.Yuffie soon found out that Tifa _did_ know what she was doing.Aside from the occasional tug on her scalp, she found the experience strangely comforting.Then, unexpectedly, a shadow from the distant past rose up in her…

_ _

_"Yuffie Pristina Kisaragi!Come here!"_

_ _

_Five-year-old Yuffie shuddered and burrowed further underneath the blankets in the sitting room."No!" she shot back."I don't wanna!"_

_ _

_Ayami Kisaragi sighed good-naturedly and tossed a lock of chocolate brown hair over her slender shoulder."Please, honey, I just need to brush your hair.Then you can go out and play."_

_ _

_"Why can't I go out and play now?" Yuffie whined."My hair's fine, Mama."_

_ _

_"No," Yuffie's mother replied patiently, entering the sitting room and noting the misshapen pile of blankets in the middle of the floor with a smile."My, my," she said teasingly."I wonder where my lovely daughter Yuffie could be hiding?Maybe under here!"_

_ _

_Yuffie laughed with delight as her mother attacked her ticklish stomach, squirming out from underneath the blankets.Still laughing and wishing her mother would just chase her around the house all day, Yuffie made a beeline for the door, only to be caught around the waist and pulled into her mother's lap._

_ _

_"Look who I found!" Ayami exclaimed in mock surprise, a smile on her pretty face as her almond-shaped eyes twinkled with laughter."A bug underneath our rug!And what were you going under there?"_

_ _

_"Hiding!" Yuffie said happily, still laughing from the aftermath of the tickle-fight._

_ _

_"Hiding from who?" her mother asked."The boogeyman?"_

_ _

_Yuffie shook her head, her long brown hair flopping around her face."Nope!From you and Mr. Brush, Mama!"_

_ _

_Yuffie's mother laughed and held on to her daughter as the little girl tried to wiggle out of her grasp."Just sit still for one minute, honey," she urged soothingly."I'll be done in a second."_

_ _

_"Aw, Mama," Yuffie pouted, but remained still as her mother brushed her hair, humming softly as she did so…_

"There you go!" Tifa said triumphantly, securing the elastic band around Yuffie's hair and tightening the ponytail.

Yuffie snapped out of her reverie to find that Tifa had finished brushing her hair and had already put it in a ponytail, something that Yuffie hadn't seen in her hair since she had been very young.Turning her head to examine the unfamiliar thing that was sticking out of her head, Yuffie had to resist the urge to laugh as the ponytail flopped around her head like something alive.She had always though ponytails, especially short ones like this, were the goofiest things…

"What so funny?" Tifa demanded, trying to look serious and not being very successful.

"It looks like I have a turd sticking out of my head!" Yuffie exclaimed, bursting into giggles.

Tifa laughed at the sheer absurdity of the prospect."That's gross, Yuffie!" she scolded good-naturedly."Well, I think it looks cute!It brings out your cheekbones quite nicely."

Yuffie made a face."What cheekbones?My face is so tubby you can't even see my cheekbones."

Tifa gave her ponytail a playful whack."No, it's not, Yuffie.You have a very pretty face."

The girl rolled her eyes."Yeah, sure, whatever, Tifa.You're just so happy to see us that even my ugly face looks good."

"Come on, Yuffie, don't talk like that," Tifa chided gently, beginning to sense that underneath Yuffie's carefree exterior, there was a bit of a self-esteem complex.She hugged her friend gently, being mindful of the many bruises that graced Yuffie's body."If it's any consolation to you," she said soothingly."Vincent's still as ugly as he was before."

Yuffie laughed."Tifa!That was mean!"She pulled back so that she could look at her older friend."Do you really think Vinnie is ugly?" she asked, not sure whether or not Tifa had been serious.In Yuffie's opinion, Vincent wasn't ugly at all.

Tifa smiled and fluffed up Yuffie's ponytail."No, of course not.Actually, I think he's very, very attractive, but don't go around telling everyone that."

"Of course not!" Yuffie agreed, glad that she had Tifa to talk about "girly things" with."I think Vincent is, well, you know, um, kind of…nice-looking, too, in a weird twisted vampire/boogeyman sort of way."By the end of her sentence, her cheeks were as red as tomatoes.

Tifa smiled knowingly, though she was a bit surprised.She had had no idea that Yuffie becoming conscious about her appearance all of sudden was stemming from a crush on Vincent, of all people!

"What?" Yuffie asked her friend, not trusting that smile."What is it?"

Tifa grinned."Nothing, nothing."She hugged her friend again."I'm just so glad to see you guys again.I missed you both so much.It's been horrible around here with nothing but a bunch of men to talk to."

"Elena's not a guy," Yuffie said smartly.

"I know, but Elena's…Elena."Tifa shrugged."We're not homegirls yet."

"Homegirls?" Yuffie laughed."Been taking grammar lessons from Barret?"

"Oh, shut up!" Tifa said."Let's go downstairs before they send someone up to get us."

Yuffie hopped out of the chair and followed her friend to the door."Sure thing, homegirl."

Tifa stuck her tongue out at Yuffie."You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Nope," Yuffie said proudly.

Everyone was already seated around the table when the two girls came down the stairs.

"Hey, brat!" Reno exclaimed, a taunting grin on his face."Showing some cleavage there, I see."

Yuffie smiled sweetly at him and gave his ponytail a hard yank as she went by to plop down in a chair next to Vincent, narrowly avoiding getting her butt slapped in retaliation by Reno.Looking at Vincent, she saw that he had apparently found clothes that were of a much better fit than the ones Yuffie had borrowed.The black, long-sleeved shirt he was wearing was a bit large on him, but the black jeans and brown boots were a good fit.

Yuffie looked up to find Vincent staring back at her calmly.Blushing slightly, she said, "I see you've found some clothes that don't make you look like an evil blood-sucking vampire."

Vincent raised an eyebrow."Charming, to the last."

"Goddamn," Cid commented from his seat beside Vincent."How the hell did you stand being around her for an entire day, nonstop?You must be Superman, Vince."

Reno grinned."Actually, I think even Superman probably would have flown into the sky and dropped her in the North Crater after the first two hours."

Yuffie slumped in her chair, a scowl on her face."You guys suck!" she exclaimed.

"Leave Yuffie alone," Tifa added, looking strangely uncomfortable in her seat between Cloud and Reno.There was a peculiar tension in the air, a sort of electric crackling, but Yuffie didn't give it much thought, being that she was too busy being humiliated by her companions.

"So what the hell happened to you two?" Barret asked, leaning his beefy bulk on the table."Did ya find the Running Man?"

Vincent nodded, absently pushing a stray lock of damp black hair away from his eyes."You might say that."

"Did you see any sign of Reeve?" Elena asked hopefully.

Cid pivoted in his chair to glare at the female Turk."Hot damn, woman!Let them get a word in, why don't ya?"

Cloud nodded, speaking for the first time."Yeah, start at the beginning."

"Very well," Vincent deadpanned."I'll start, and Yuffie can fill in anything that I fail to mention."

"Sounds like a plan," Yuffie agreed, pleased that he had included her and hadn't just pretended like she had never been on the journey with him in the first place.

The dark gunslinger folded his arms across his chest, and everyone, except Yuffie, leaned forward in anticipation, eager to hear the story.So Vincent began the tale of how he and Yuffie had followed Cloud's orders and gone into the cave in search of the mysterious "ghost ship" Cloud had talked to them about.He gave a mild description of the ship, and Yuffie was surprised at how much more he had noticed about the ugly thing than she had.When she had seen the old, rotten, algae-crusted ship in the back of the cave, she had simply declared, "Oh, it's a ghost ship!No one home!"Vincent apparently had thought the abandoned thing to be more interesting than she had.

"That's all about the ship?" Cloud asked, apparently expecting more."It didn't appear as if it had been used recently?"

Vincent shook his head slowly."Not to my knowledge.There could have been something I missed, though."

"It don't matter now," Barret quipped gruffly."That thang was outta there when we went to check this mornin'."

"Was it the Running Man who sailed the ship away?" Red asked.

Vincent nodded."Yes."

"And you guys followed him onto it?" Cloud supplied, leaning against the wooden table.

"No," Yuffie spoke up grumpily."We were already on it.Mr. I'm-So-Damn-Clever Vinnie here had this bright idea that we should explore the interior of the ship, like it was going to be any prettier than the outside!We ended up stuck in the cargo hold between two crates for the entire trip."

"We were investigating the cargo hold when the Running Man came on board," Vincent clarified."For further reference, we found nothing on the ship, just old crates full of tea bags and skeletons of fishes.There were some blankets rotting in the crew's quarters, but they didn't warrant much attention, apparently.Yuffie and I were in the cargo hold getting ready to leave when we heard footsteps on the upper deck."

"Vinnie heard them," Yuffie jumped in, still in a grumpy mood as she recalled how miserable the old ghost ship experience had been."I didn't hear a damn thing.I thought he was pulling my leg."

Cid rolled his eyes."Vince doesn't pull nobody's leg, Yuffie.You should know that by now."

"I know," Yuffie said quietly, trying not to think that she had Vincent had become close friends during their little adventure.If she got to thinking about that, then she was probably going to be brutally disappointed when he started shunning her like he did everyone else.Why should a little brat like her warrant any special attention from a man like him?

Yuffie slowly emerged from her morbid thoughts and listened to Vincent as he recounted the tale of how they had hid in the cargo hold for two hours as the ship sailed off into oblivion.The young ninja felt her stomach becoming queasy again as she listening to Vincent's vivid description of the rocking waves and musty fish smell.Much to her embarrassment, she was almost ready to toss her cookies when Vincent finally ended the reliving-the-nightmare process at the time they had docked at the deep sea complex and followed the Running Man off of the ship.

"You have no idea where the ship might have taken you?" Rude asked.

"No," Vincent deadpanned."All I know is that we were in some sort of docking bay on the ocean.I received the impression that the complex wasn't very large, but we were either being held in the extreme front or the back of the complex so my judgment on such a thing isn't trustworthy.There were hundreds of crates in this area, and the ceiling was open so that we could see the sky.The ocean stretched in all other directions except the north, where there was a door to inner complex."

"And you followed the Running Man down there?" Red asked."Did he have anyone with him?"

Vincent shook his head."No, but we lost sight of him for about an hour's time before we actually followed him through the door."

Cid jumped slightly."An hour?Damn, that's a long time.What was he doing in a docking bay with a bunch of boring crates for an entire hour?"

"Hiding from us."

Now it was Cloud's turn to be surprised."He knew you were there?"

"Great spy job, you guys," Reno said sarcastically, reclining in his chair with a leering look in his eyes.

"Vinnie pushed me in the seawater!" Yuffie burst out before her companion could say that she had had an "accident."

Reno burst out laughing."Way to go, Vincent!"

"I knew you had it in you, man!" Cid said approvingly, a big grin on his face.

Vincent didn't even blink."Yuffie fell into the docking bay pool on accident; consequently, the Running Man was alerted to our presence and hid amongst the crates."

"Way to go, brat," Barret snapped.

Face bright red, Yuffie opened her mouth to defend herself when suddenly Vincent stepped in."It wasn't her fault," he deadpanned, red eyes steady from behind strands of ebony hair."She was out in front.It was dark out and she couldn't see.There was a puddle that I failed to inform her about, and she slipped into the pool.Therefore, it actually is my fault that she fell in."

Everyone just sort of stared; they had never heard Vincent defend someone like that.Yuffie, in particular, was shocked out of her mind and just sat there with her mouth hanging open.Last night, Vincent had practically said that it was her fault the Running Man knew about their presence, and now he was defending her?Geez!She just didn't understand this man!Never before in her entire life had she met someone who was as frustrating to be around as Mr. I-Need-To-Atone-For-My-Sins Valentine here.

"Okay," Cloud said slowly, raising a blonde eyebrow curiously, probably making a point to ask Vincent about his peculiar behavior later."What happened next?"

Vincent, unfazed by everyone's curious stares, continued the story of how he and Yuffie had chased the Running Man through the maze of crates until they lost track of him and agreed that they would watch the only exit from the cargo area, assuming that the Running Man would try and enter the complex from there.He had to stop his recounting of the experience twice, once when Cloud asked him to describe the Running Man and when Elena interrupted to ask if he was _sure_ the Running Man didn't have any prisoners with him or on the ship.Yuffie had started to growl a response to the question that was starting to get redundant, but Vincent had quickly cut her off and given a more polite, monotonic answer.On the story went, with Vincent making vivid descriptions about things that Yuffie hadn't even noticed while the others listening attentively, hanging on every word.Yuffie found herself almost lulled into a doze by Vincent's deep, soothing voice, but she jerked herself awake every once in while to add something into the story, just to remind everyone that she was still there.

Cloud, in particular, hung on Vincent's every word, his Mako blue eyes sharp and attentive as he leaned on the table, stopping Vincent every once in a while to fire another question at him.He even asked Yuffie for her opinion every once in a while, something that she gratefully provided.He stopped Vincent again when they started talking about the battle with the Faceless Men.

"Wait a minute," Cloud said dubiously."You said these men had no faces at all?"

"No faces at all," Yuffie confirmed, stressing every word.

"Isn't that, like, physically impossible or something?" Elena asked suspiciously, her brown eyes darting from Yuffie to Vincent."You need eyes to see with, and a nose to breath.Every living thing needs those to survive."

Yuffie's eyes narrowed."Are you calling us liars?"

Elena glared back at her."And what if I am?"

"Elena," Rude said firmly but softly, eyes unreadable behind his dark sunglasses.

The blond-haired Turk looked in surprise at her tall companion."Rude, I—"

"Elena," Rude said again, this time more firmly.Elena opened her mouth as if to say something more, but instead she shut it abruptly and sank into her seat with a humiliated, if not hurt, look on her face.

After a few more moments of silence in which everyone wondered at how well Rude had handled the situation – not to mention _why_ he had done such a thing in the first place – Cloud once again broke the silence.

"Describe these creatures to me," he said to Vincent and Yuffie.

"Average man's height," Vincent clipped."Male, or at least they appeared to be.None of them had any feminine features, but when Yuffie dealt one a…low blow, it didn't appear to be affected by the assault."

"Maybe these creatures do not feel pain," Red suggested, looking intrigued with the story.

Vincent nodded."That's probably the most logical assumption."

"Faceless Men," Barret mused in a grouchy tone."Do ya think these things were natural kinds of monsters?"

"No," Vincent answered without hesitation."These creatures were abominations, but, whatever happened them, I feel certain that they were once human."

"How horrible," Tifa said quietly, eyebrows creased in distress."I wonder what happened to them."

"Who knows," Vincent replied, his monotone the antithesis of Tifa's sympathetic one."But whatever befell them left these creatures with abnormal strength and endurance.It appears as if the brain is the very center of these creatures' activity.If you don't destroy the brain, then these things just keep on coming with no let up."

"How do you figure that?" Reno asked flatly.

"We busted our asses trying to kill five of these things over the past day," Yuffie grumbled, the memory of the battle making her limbs ache all over again."Vinnie blew up their jet skis while escaping the complex, but somehow they managed to crawl on shore and follow us all the way up to the mountains near the Chocobo Ranch."

Reno snorted."So what's the big deal?Any human could have done that."

"Not at the rate they did," Vincent deadpanned."Especially considering the fact that all five of them were missing either a leg or an arm.It took nothing short of summoning the Knights of the Round to kill two of them at long range."

Cid's mouth dropped open, and he had to scramble to hold onto his cigarette."You're kiddin' me?Damn, that's some heavy shit, guys."

"Heavy, yes," Vincent confirmed."But frighteningly real.I shot one point blank range in the chest and it didn't even stumble.And they seem to have at least the most primitive intelligence, for they attack in strategic formations, either in a pack or by using other methods."

"Yeah," Yuffie spoke up."Three of them acted together to try and knock me off of one of those cliffs between Kalm and the Chocobo Ranch."She absently fingered one of the bruises on her stomach."Almost succeeded, too, if it hadn't been for Vinnie.And while we were in the Green Room, three of them cornered Vincent and were pounding on him with their guns."

"Pounding?" Cloud asked, a perplexed look on his face."Why didn't they just shoot you if they had guns?"

"I assume that up to a certain point in time, they wanted us alive," Vincent answered."Either that or the first three we encountered in the complex were a weak batch; they were dispatched easily enough, but apparently sometime during the course of our escape on the jet ski, they decided that we would be better off dead.They opened fire on us."

"Are you guys okay?" Tifa asked worriedly.

Vincent shrugged."I'm fine, but one of them shot Yuffie in the shoulder."

Yuffie nodded, hand flying instinctively to her left shoulder, where Vincent's red bandana (clean, of course!) was still tied around the scar.She had no idea why she had left it on; all that remained of the bullet hole that had originally bleed like Niagara Falls was a new, nasty-looking scar.For some reason, however, she hadn't wanted to untie it from her arm.Maybe it was really a "souvenir" like she had told Vincent.Her thoughts started to shift to what had happened, or what _hadn't_ happened, under the overhang a couple of hours ago.Once again, she saw Vincent's beautiful garnet eyes lingering on her face and felt his warmth as he sat close to her with the rain pouring down inches from them.

"Yuffie!" Barret's voice suddenly cut through her thoughts.

She snapped out of her reverie with a startled flush coming to her cheeks.She had zoned out totally and hadn't even realized it!Now everyone was staring at her like she had grown another head.

"What?" she demanded, cheeks on fire, as if everyone at the table had heard what she was thinking about.

"Jes' making sure you was done wit your little trip to the Twilight Zone," Barret growled at her."We gonna start the story again."

"I was part of the story," she grumbled."I don't need to hear it again.It was hard enough living it."

"Yuffie, quit being a pest," Cloud said flatly.

Anger clenched her jaw.There was that word again!Pest!That's all they ever called her!Cid and Barret didn't even call her Yuffie anymore!It was always, "Great going, pest," or "Oh no, it's the brat."Reno and Elena called her even worse names when they were in bad moods.And now Cloud was starting!God, where did it end?!She was so sick and tired of this!Even she had to draw the line somewhere.

She was just about to open her mouth and start the biggest spiel of all time when she suddenly noticed Tifa staring at her desperately and making motions with her hands, obviously telling Yuffie not to say anything.Tifa shook her head emphatically yet discreetly, eyes darting from Cloud to Yuffie.The young ninja glared angrily at Tifa, then at Cloud, who was beginning to catch onto the silent communication between the two girls.In the end, Yuffie held her tongue out of respect for Tifa and the fact that a fight between two of the AVALANCHE members wasn't going to make planning go any faster.She still had no idea why Tifa didn't want to upset Cloud, but she was betting that it had something to do with the crackling tension in the air that Yuffie still hadn't been able to pinpoint.

Clenching her hands into fists, Yuffie bit the inside of her cheek and lowered her eyes to her lap, focusing all of her attention on the weave of her borrowed denim shorts to keep from exploding in anger.God, she was ready to go nuclear!

Silence hung awkwardly in the air.

"Awright!" Barret suddenly bellowed in irritation."What the hell is going on here?!"

"Nothing," Cloud said coldly, for some reason looking almost as peeved as Yuffie was.

"Like hell 'nothing'!" Cid snapped, shrewd blue eyes darting all around the table."I don't know what the hell happened to you, Cloud, but you've been acting weird.Even Reno's being more pissy than usual.And what's wrong with Tifa?Yuffie, too?"

_ _

_Good thing he called me "Yuffie,"_ she thought, still staring at her clenched fists in her lap._Or you could have just forgotten about going nuclear.I would have gone positively ATOMIC!Wait a minute, aren't those the same thing…_

"Nothing is wrong with us," Cloud said apathetically, though the turbulent emotions in his Mako blue eyes sang a different tune."We're just all under a lot of stress right now."

"As are we all," Rude said calmly."Fighting won't solve anything, though."

Reno snorted, flicking a lock of flaming hair away from his eyes."Well, me and Tifa both know what's bugging Cloud."

"Reno!" Tifa gasped, hands flying to her mouth."Be quiet!"

Reno cast his eyes away, but he was unable to conceal the smug yet strangely bitter smile that crossed his face.He knew his words had struck home, and the damage had already been done.Cloud was now staring blankly at the tabletop, looking like a zombie.Tifa was hugging herself with her arms, eyes on the floor, apparently not trusting herself to look at anyone at the table.

Cid raised an eyebrow."The hell?Did we miss something here?"

"Seems like it," Elena commented dryly, watching Reno carefully as if expecting him to bust out the answer at any moment.

But Red spoke up before anyone else could further exacerbate the already inflamed predicament."I believe Rude spoke it true when he said that fighting won't help us right now.Bickering amongst each other isn't going to get Reeve back any faster.I believe it is the general consensus that our mutual friend is in grave danger, and whether we like it or not, AVALANCHE and the Turks are going to have to work together to get him back."He stared hard at Cloud, Tifa, and Reno."That means putting aside these disputes to be dealt with later."

Rude nodded."We need all three of you right now.There's no way we can make plans without you three."

Cloud said nothing.Tifa lowered her head further, feeling ashamed.Reno yawned.

Barret looked at the Rude suspiciously."Well, ain't you Mr. Peacemaker now?You and your Shinra buddies up to somethin'?

"Barret," Red growled, beginning to lose his cool.

The large man glanced at the panther-like creature to his right before sighing and folding his arms across his chest."Gotta lot of things on my mind right now," he grumbled as a way of explanation.

"We all do," Vincent suddenly spoke up, glancing at the still simmering Yuffie out of the corner of his eye."Yuffie and I have undergone a very taxing ordeal, and it appears as if problems arose while we were away."

"What problems?" Cloud suddenly asked in a low voice, eyes never moving from the wooden tabletop."No problems here."

Everyone stared at him incredulously.He was the very embodiment of a man with problems.

Cloud suddenly sighed with world-weariness in his soul and rose to his feet, shoulders rigid with some nameless emotion and his eyes still averted."I'm not up to this right now," he muttered almost inaudibly."We'll do it later."

He climbed out from behind the table and started to walk towards the stairs, his movements jerky and stiff.

Reno lost his cool almost immediately."Okay!" he exclaimed, voice dripping with sarcasm."Let's just all jump when he says!Mr. Big Shot Leader over there thinks the world revolves around him and we have to do whatever he says!"

Cloud gave Reno the finger and stomped up the stairs while everyone stared in wonder at Cloud's uncharacteristically vicious actions.A second later they heard a door slam upstairs.

Reno pounded the table with his fist, beside himself with rage."@#%$!" he exclaimed."I've had enough for one goddamn day!We're never gonna find Reeve with _him_ as a leader!"

Silence hung in the air for a few moments before Tifa suddenly stirred."I'm going to go check on the chocobos," she said in a soft, wavering voice, her long chocolate brown hair hiding her watering eyes from view."Excuse me."

She quickly rose and literally ran out of the room and down a side hallway, her boots thudding on the wooden floor.A second later everyone heard the back door slam.

"Great going, Turk," Barret snapped.

"Damn you, Reno," Cid said at the same time.

Reno's jaw clenched, and his face turned as red as his hair."Man!%$#@ all of ya'll!"

He leapt to his feet, knocking his chair over, and stormed out of the front door, slamming it behind him and making all the shot glasses tremble.Rude and Elena leapt from their seats and followed him out, ignoring the fact that it was still raining.

With vivid and loud curses issuing from both of their mouths, Cid and Barret got up and left the room, Barret going down the hallway Tifa went, saying something about calling Marlene, Cid going upstairs to barricade himself in his room where he could smoke in peace.Red shook his head miserably and padded out of the room with his head hung low.

Vincent just stared at the empty table around him, as if noticing for the first time that everyone else had left.Unconcerned, he fingered his split lip gingerly, noticing that it was already healing.His thoughts were a million miles away.

Yuffie suddenly lifted her head, looking around to see that everyone had magically disappeared and it was just she and Vincent alone…again.

"Hey, Vinnie?" she asked, her voice echoing in the empty room.

"Yes, Yuffie?" he responded automatically.

"Are 'nuclear' and 'atomic' the same thing?"

_Author's note: This was just a sort of recap chapter.It was also to emphasize just how much of a hard time AVALANCHE and the Turks are going to have working together.Hmmm…I wonder if they will be able to work out some kind of compromise?Oh, by the way, this may be a little off subject, but I was watching Blade last night with Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, and I noticed that Stephen Dorff looked EXACTLY like Reno!Same color eyes and everything!Sure you may need to dye his hair red, but the voice and everything was exactly like I imagined Reno's would be.Um, just thought I'd share that…_


	13. The Dynamic Duo

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Thirteen**

**_ _**

**_The Dynamic Duo_**

_"Why you'd want to stay some place you're not wanted is completely beyond me."Titus_

The Running Man stood on the deck of the reanimated ghost ship, letting the screaming wind tear at his pale blond hair, completely oblivious to the rain beating against his face and soaking his dark clothes with hungry eagerness.His iridescent green eyes squinted instinctively against the rain that sought to blind them, and his gloved hands were curled lazily around the wooden railing.With a peculiar serenity, he gazed calmly at the turbulent sea, as if the towering waves that angrily tossed the ship back and forth and the branches of yellow lightening that streaked wildly across the sky were the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

"Titus?" the woman's voice came from behind him."The hell you doing out here, sugar?"

Titus didn't even bother to turn around."What does it look like I'm doing, Fa-Li?"

The woman snorted."Standing there in the rain in the most hideous weather looking at the hideous ocean like an idiot."

"Watch your tongue," Titus warned flatly as the ship rocked violently."The Mother just might decide that you are be well-suited for her next meal.If I were you, I wouldn't risk angering her when she is not in her best of moods, like she is now."

Fa-Li laughed shortly, a sharp staccato sound of bitterness every ounce as unpleasant as the roaring thunder.The heels of her calf-length boots thudded on the deck as she strode up to stand next to Titus at the railing, disgusted by the rain but not wanting to stay below the deck where the ship's rocking motions were even more violent and nauseating.Her sensual lips curled into a sneer as she felt wayward raindrops slide underneath the collar of her leather bodysuit and trickle down her back.She angrily tossed her mass of dark brown hair behind her shoulder, her almond-shaped eyes narrowing in irritation.

"I never could quite understand you and your primitive little religion," she snarled at her dark companion, whose delicate yet majestic features cut a startling profile against the backdrop of the turbulent sea."Worshipping the sea and everything," she continued grumpily."Just don't make no sense to me, honey."

"That makes two of us," Titus commented distractedly, unperturbed as the "ghost ship" rocked to the right, the hungry waves trying to devour it whole.

"If you don't understand your own religion, baby, then why follow it?" Fa-Li snapped.

Titus sighed."I tried to explain this to you several years ago, remember?You didn't understand then; why would you understand now?"

Fa-Li suddenly smiled, as if the rain dripping down her fiercely beautiful face didn't bother her a bit."Remembering the old days, Titus?Thinking about the way things used to be between us?"

Titus stiffened."Believe me, I try not to.Not very fond memories."

"Oh, come on now," she cooed, edging closer to him."I was good to you, and you certainly had no complaints at the time.Admit it, you enjoyed our little relationship as much as I did." 

Titus' eyes narrowed in irritation, though his emerald gaze never shifted from the turbulent sea."Maybe," he admitted coldly."But it didn't take me long to realize that you weren't worth a moment of my time."

Fa-Li grinned with remarkable friendliness considering the fact that Titus had just insulted her."Now what's that supposed to mean, honey?"

The Running Man closed his eyes and lifted his face to the rain, letting the needle sharp tears from the heavens pound against his pale skin."Let's just say that your little 'flings' did nothing to higher my opinion of you.I soon saw the light, you might say, and understood that all the bad names you had been dubbed among our little faction were very much accurate."

She gave a melodramatic sigh."Titus, baby, you just don't understand me.You may be free of the 'faction,' as you call it, but you're still in a cage."She thumped a small fist against the wooden railing of the ship."It's just like this blasted ship; it has the entire sea to wander for all eternity, but instead it always follows the same damn course, again and again.That's you, Titus."

Titus didn't reply.

Fa-Li went on, feeling a little pride at how complex she was sounding, "Well, not me, sweetheart.I'm as free as the wind.I have nothing to hold me back anymore.My philosophy is that you live life while there's still a life to live.Do people that are still worth doing; see things that are still worth seeing, if you know what I mean.In the world we live in, life can be gone down the drain as fast as it came into existence."

Titus laughed without mirth at the preposterous idea that Fa-Li could have anything resembling a philosophy.But then again, he knew that the woman had her dark secrets; maybe such a morbid philosophy was one of them.Whatever the case, he didn't bother to respond to her reply.Instead, he continued to keep his head upturned to the heavens, allowing the raindrops to beat ruthlessly against his face.

Fa-Li noticed what her companion was doing and snorted condescendingly."Why are you doing that?" she snapped, watching the rain drip from Titus' pale blond hair."Does it feel good or something, letting all that water go down your face and up your nose?"

"I don't do it because it feels good, silly girl," Titus responded without opening his eyes, knowing that Fa-Li would bristle at the name he had just called her."Now that you mention it, the raindrops sort of hurt, but I don't worry about such petty physical things."

"What are you doing then?" she snapped, already growing tired of his deep and obscure phrases.

"Listening."

"Listening?" she scoffed, shoving her waterlogged hair away from her face."Listening to what?The thunder, the rain?Even I can do that, baby.Anyone who isn't deaf can do that."

"Petty physical things," Titus repeated."And you said I was in cage?There are some things you don't need ears to hear.I'm not listening to the thunder or the rain.I'm listening to the ocean – to her words, her thoughts.She always has much to say, but you humans never listen to her."He paused."It…displeases her.She won't go unheard for much longer."

The woman snorted."Is that supposed to frighten me, honey?"

"You should be afraid," Titus murmured in a low voice."The Mother is not someone to be reckoned with.Her tides are violent and furious; her tsunamis swallow entire cities.She is a titan."

Fa-Li rolled her almond-shaped Wutainese eyes."Please.Well, Titus, what does the ocean have to say?Do enlighten me."

Titus was silent for a long while, the roaring thunder and churning sea eagerly filling the jagged spaces that his words had previously occupied.His handsome face was still upturned to take in the rain, letting it pound against his tender eyelids and cling to his dark blond eyelashes.His hands still maintained a light grip on the wooden railing even as the ghost ship rocked violently on the ocean's surface.

Fa-Li watched his still face with a mixture of aggravation and fascination, the normal pairing of emotions that she experienced when she traveled with Titus for any long period of time.There was no denying that her ex-lover was drop dead gorgeous, and she knew from experience that he was just as good-looking without clothes as he was with them, but, then again, most of her ex-lovers were that way.Generous to a fault.The thing, however, that set Titus apart from her other "flings" was his obvious intelligence and foolish philosophical views on the world and everything in it.It seemed that Titus could just glance at something as insignificant as a rock with those luminescent green eyes of his and see the deeper meaning behind the stupid thing when all Fa-Li saw was…a rock.Something her heels would slip on if she stepped on it too quickly.Something that she could throw if they encountered on enemy.Something to bash her companion over the head with.

Titus was the only one who could unintentionally seduce and belittle her in one single sitting.His good looks and unconscious charm intrigued her; his complex way of thinking and talking made her feel as dumb as well…a rock.

This was one of those aggravatingly bewitching moments.Fa-Li just stood on the deck of the ship, letting the rain soak her hair and skin even though she was well aware that shelter was less than a few feet away, in the cockpit of the ship.Titus made her do stupid things like this sometimes, things that totally went against her prodigious amount of common sense.She could have been sitting in the cockpit, nice and dry, not a hair out of place, but instead she was standing out here in the rain watching her companion's handsome face as he let the rain beat it relentlessly.But, god, she couldn't help herself; she just loved looking at Titus.It was a major pity that he actually insisted on having relationships instead of just quick fixes.Relationships were too messy for Fa-Li; she wished Titus would simply submit to her and let her have her way with him.Things would be so much better that way…

Fa-Li's little fantasy realm evaporated into thin air as her companion suddenly opened his eyes, lowering his head so that the rain hit the top of his head and not his face.He stared out over the ocean, looking a little disturbed.

"She is angry," he suddenly blurted.

Fa-Li blinked in confusion."Huh?"

Titus glanced at her briefly before looking back across the ocean again."You asked me what the ocean was saying," he murmured."She is angry, and I don't know why."

"Don't worry, honey," Fa-Li said cheerfully."I don't know either."

Titus rolled his eyes, looking irritated."I didn't expect you to."

Fa-Li scowled beautifully, her fake-cheerful mood dissipating in an instant."Are you trying to insult me?You've got serious problems, Titus.Talking to the ocean and all."She sighed melodramatically."I just don't understand you anymore."

Titus snorted."You never did in the first place.All you were interested in was little escapades to the bedroom.Why did you even come on this mission?All you are is a bunch of dead weight."

"I have my reasons," Fa-Li snapped angrily, not liking being called "dead weight."

"And what might those be?" Titus deadpanned, not looking concerned either way.

Fa-Li crossed her slender arms over her ample chest and glared at him."I don't have to answer to you, baby.My reasons are my reasons and that's that.And if you don't like it, then tough!Because I'm here and this is where I'm staying."

"Why you'd want to stay some place you're not wanted is completely beyond me," Titus said coldly, an almost-scowl on his drenched face."But being that my employer ordered that you assist me, there is very little I can do about it."

"Now that's more like it," Fa-Li said soothingly, running her slender fingers flirtatiously over Titus' sleeve, the tips of them finding little friction on the slippery surface.He pulled his arm away.

Undaunted by the repulsed vibes Titus was emitting, Fa-Li smiled and said conversationally, "So what's the game plan?"

"We're heading to Midgar," Titus clipped shortly.

She scowled."Midgar?Why ever so?That place is dirty and wartorn.Why would you want to choose such a location to kidnap the Kisaragi girl?"

Titus was silent.The roaring sea devoured her question.

A dark thought suddenly crossed Fa-Li's mind."You _are_ going to follow your orders, aren't you?" she asked her companion earnestly.

Titus didn't reply.In fact, he didn't even look at her.She may as well have been talking to herself.

But Fa-Li wasn't giving up.If Titus was thinking about being pigheaded and stupid, she was going to have to go upside that thick head of his and pull him out of the ozone.Grabbing his arm in a vice-like grip, a considerable feat for such a slight woman, she leaned in closer to her motionless companion and stared hard at his handsome profile.

"Titus, you're not thinking about disobeying the Master now, are you?" she murmured feverishly, her nasal voice barely audible over the thunder."Do you have a death wish or something?You are fortunate he even dares to associate with you after what you pulled a year ago!He could have easily ordered your death, but he spared your life, Titus!Don't defy him again, please!"

Titus was silent for a moment after her ranting, but then he gently pulled his arm from her grasp.Fa-Li let her fingers slide from his arm, watching his pale, inanimate face carefully for any signs that her words had sunk into his thick skull.

"All roads lead to Midgar," he said flatly, apparently choosing to ignore what she had just said."AVALANCHE and the Turks have no other leads to go on.I am almost certain that they'll head back to Midgar to search for their missing friend."

_ _

_And because that Turk saw me poking around the lab_, he added silently._What folly!So unlike me!I don't know what I was thinking!Why was I expecting to find anything at all in the lab of a madman?Stupid, stupid, stupid…_

"How can you be so sure?" Fa-Li asked suspiciously, as oblivious to Titus' thoughts as she was to the light spray of seawater that was hitting her porcelain cheek like the feathers of angel's wing.

"I'm _not_ sure," Titus responded."Nothing is ever certain or preset in this world.There is no such thing as destiny.I can simply guess and hope my instincts haven't betrayed me."

Fa-Li stared at Titus for a while after his words had already been dispersed into the air and swallowed by the roar of thunder and the turbulent sea.Eventually, she adverted her almond-shaped eyes and stared blankly at the worn grain of the railing, tracing the swirling pattern with her slender fingers.Her dark brown hair, now laden with rainwater, hung in front of her face as rain dripped from it.For the first time, she was as oblivious to the tossing deck as her companion was, and just as silent…a first for her.

When she finally spoke, however, the subject wasn't the previous one they had been discussing."Do you think the big guy's going to kill Mr. President down there?" she asked softly, fingers still dancing over the wooden railing.

Titus' gaze was far away, but he heard the thoughtfulness behind her question and thought it deserved an answer."I hope not," he said softly.

Fa-Li looked at him in surprise."Why?"

"If he dies," Titus replied."AVALANCHE and the Turks will be unstoppable.The blood of their friend will be the driving force behind their revenge.They would not rest until the last of us lies dead at their feet."

Fa-Li couldn't think of anything to say.The fact that Titus was afraid of two rag-tag bands of veterans made her afraid.She was particularly cautious of the Turks, and the idea of both AVALANCHE and the Turks out for her blood was so terrifying that she didn't even wish to think about it.So she said nothing.Titus was as silent as his noodle-brained companion, lost in the deep thoughts that Fa-Li loathed.A war raged within the Running Man, a war of morals and duty, of ancient history and recent occurrences, of lust and common sense.His duel nature was once again tormenting him, and it didn't stop until the dark, ravaged shape of Midgar loomed in the distance, and the words of his employer rang clear and powerful in his head, inescapable.Duty won the battle over ethics, and Titus felt that familiar coldness settle over his soul, freezing his heart in his chest and turning his eyes into two chips of emerald ice.

He and Fa-Li were still silent as the ship beached itself on the shore of Midgar, an ungainly finish to the last trip it would ever make.

_Author's note: God, I was stuck on this chapter forever!These two are going to be playing a major part in the story, so I thought I'd develop their characters a bit more.Took me long enough, right?I just want to send a special thanks to Yuffie Valentine, who always has nice compliments for my crappy writing (namely my battle scenes)!Thank you so much!It provides more motivation than one might think.I also want to tell Kachan and Little One thanks for sending those e-mails that got my ass back in gear!Thanks! And, of course, thanks to anyone who has read and reviewed this story!Wow, I'm in a good mood, aren't I?I'm just happy that I finished this chapter! Whoo-hoo!::does Rinoa Heartilly victory dance::The next one is dim in my mind right now, but hopefully I'll get started on it soon._


	14. The Plight of the Raindrops

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Fourteen**

**_ _**

**_The Plight of the Raindrops_**

_"What are you gonna do?Spank us and send us to our rooms?"Elena_

_ _

_Every moment marked_

_With apparitions of your soul_

_However swiftly moving_

#### I'm trying to escape this desire

_The yearning to be near you_

_I do what I have to do_

_The yearning to be near you_

_I do what I have to do_

_And I had the sense to recognize _

_That I don't know how to let you go_

_ _

_"Do What You Have to Do"_

_Sarah McLachlan___

Reno's blood was still boiling.The rain that brushed lightly against his pale skin as he stood out on the bar's deck could not cool the rage that coursed through his veins like liquid fire.His auburn eyebrows were drawn together in a fearsome scowl, and his eyes were blazing with fury.God, he couldn't remember the last time he had been this angry!He had to bite down hard on his own tongue to prevent himself from arching his back in rage and cursing Cloud Strife and womb that gave birth to the little prick until his voice was hoarse.Reno folded his arms resolutely across his lean chest and glared at the falling rain, refusing to succumb to the urge to let out the longest string of cuss words he had ever said in his entire life.

Elena and Rude watched their leader and friend from a safe distance, discomfort written in their auras.Rude leaned stiffly against the closed door to the bar, expression hidden by his dark sunglasses.At his side, Elena fidgeted nervously, tugging at the still-damp bottom of her suit jacket and pushing at her tangled hair.She was caught between wanting to bug Reno until he told them what was wrong and just leaving him out here to be alone with his fury.The blond-haired Turk was not in her best of moods – she was wet, tired, hungry, Rude had just embarrassed her in front of everyone, and now Reno had had a major spat with Cloud that neither of them was likely to get over anytime soon.They were never going to get Reeve back!And what did that mean?Even more disgrace to the Turks' name!She could hear people talking now!

_ _

_"Those damn Turks!They let another President die under them!What wastrels!Can't even do their jobs right!"_

But despite her desire to keep the Turks' name somewhat "honorable," Elena was more weary of Reno's temper than any thoughts of future grandeur she could dream up.She knew that the anger she had seen Reno evince in the bar just now was only a taste of how angry he could really get.And the fact that Reno was still out here brooding only heightened her apprehension.Reno was the sort of person who could blow up in your face one minute and have his arms around you like the best of friends the next.It was rare that he held a grudge, but when he did hold one…

Elena shuddered at the thought.

Reno suddenly turned his head so that Elena and Rude could see the scarred profile of his handsome face against the backdrop of the falling rain."If you two are just gonna stand there and stare at me," he growled."Save yourselves the trouble and take a picture.It'll last longer."

The oppressive silence between the trio broken by Reno's harsh words, Elena and Rude left their positions beside the door and went to stand next to their friend and colleague as he turned to stare at the falling rain and weeping skies again.Elena fidgeted anxiously, wishing that Rude would say something to get Reno to come out of his shell.She would have made the effort, but since it seemed that _every_ time she opened her mouth, she said something wrong that only made things worse.She was still a bit sour over Rude having embarrassed her in front of AVALANCHE.Why did he have to go and do that?Elena tried so hard to make herself look and seem professional, but if Rude kept treating her like a rookie, then she was never going to be able to earn the respect of others!

But Rude's scolding had hurt her as much as it had embarrassed her, and she didn't want him to speak to her in such a fashion again…

So Elena kept her mouth shut.Silence hung in the air again except for the rain streaming down from the stormy skies in sheets, just inches away from where she and her friends were standing.Tickling, feather light droplets hit the ground and jumped back up to playfully touch Elena's face, and if she hadn't had a glowering Reno standing next to her like a time bomb waiting to explode, she would have smiled with sheer serenity.

Then Reno let out sigh that was more like a growl and said, "So, are you guys just going to stand there?Why did you even come out here anyways?"

"Because you were out here," Rude said simply, staring out at the rain with his eyes hidden by his sunglasses.Elena didn't say anything; despite her bitterness over Rude's admonishment, she knew that he could better handle Reno that she would ever be able to.

Reno snorted, his eyes still hard with smoldering anger."So now you want to be with me, huh?You two sure as hell were quick to leave me behind this morning."

Rude replied, "We left with—"

"—my best interests in heart," Reno finished dryly, flicking a rebellious lock of fiery hair away from his face."Yeah, I've heard that one before.Right now I'm pondering on whether or not you two should be punished for leaving me behind this morning."

"What are you gonna do?" Elena blurted before she could stop herself."Spank us and send us to our rooms?"

Reno and Rude both turned to stare at her as the female Turk hurriedly clamped both hands over her full mouth, eyes widening as she realized what she had just said!Great!Why couldn't she think before she talked?!Now Reno was going to go nuclear and stalk away again, and Rude was going to reprimand her for being such a loud mouth…

Then Reno's surprised face melted into a grin.He flirtatiously winked one of those aquamarine eyes at her."You're just dying to be spanked by me, aren't you, Elena?"

Elena's mouth dropped open at his impudence."As if!" she declared indignantly."I swear to god, Reno, you are the most—"

Her displeased retort was suddenly cut off when Reno burst out laughing with glee and gathered her up in his strong arms, crushing her to his chest and lifting her off her feet.

"Reno!" Elena screeched into her friend's shoulder as he spun her around in a circle with her feet flying behind her."Put me down!This is so humiliating!"

"Aw, you know you like it, honey," he joked, still chuckling as he lowered her to ground again, her heels finding blessed leverage on the wooden decking.For a moment, he hugged her close, her nose filling with the mixture of alcohol and cologne that she had come to identify as Reno's scent.

Then he released her and stepped back, still laughing for some odd reason.Even Rude was looking at him a little strangely, and Elena was beside herself with annoyance.

"What was that all about?" she demanded grumpily, placing her slender hands on her narrow hips."Next time warn me before you do something like that!"

"You two crack me up," Reno laughed, tossing his ponytail back over his shoulder as he walked away from them and plopped down in one of the wicker chairs that were placed on the wooden decking.He sank casually into the piece of furniture with a grin still on his face, his right elbow inches away from the pouring rain that was still descending like angry tears from the enraged heavens.He was still chuckling, as if he couldn't control his sounds of mirth.

Elena glanced at Rude in bewilderment, and the tall man lifted an eyebrow at her, a gesture that very clearly said, _You cut it close that time.Watch what you say the next time._

She narrowed her brown eyes and gave her companion a withering glare, sending her own message: _Don't you dare look at me like that.I'm the one who fixed this situation so just leave me alone._

With that she turned away from Rude's impassive glance with a toss of her hair and strode over to where Reno was beginning to get over his little giggling fit."What's so funny?" she asked, still a little peeved after the look Rude had given her.She hated it when anyone, especially Rude, looked at her like she was nothing.

Reno turned a half amused but strangely serious gaze to his fellow Turks."What's so funny?" he echoed."You two are.You know, I'm glad you two are my friends."

Elena's heart immediately melted, and she felt sudden tears sting her eyes."Oh, Reno!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands over her heart."That was such a nice thing to say!That's probably the kindest thing I've ever heard you tell anyone!"

Her flame-haired colleague rolled his eyes and snorted, but not before both Elena and Rude noticed the slight pink flush that came to his pale cheeks."Don't get all overworked and mushy on me now, Elena.I didn't mean nothin' by it."

Undeterred by Reno's aloof attitude, Elena smiled sincerely."Aw, Reno, you don't have to be embarrassed.Everybody has to have friends."

Reno shrugged like it didn't matter."Whatever," was all he said."Friendship is the most overrated idea on the face of the Planet.You can't define it; there's no way of telling who fits what criteria and why.It's just…pointless."

Elena scowled and put her hands on her hips."Don't say things like that Reno!Friendship is defined by _personal_ criteria, that why not everyone meets everyone's standards and why some people drop friends as fast as they get them.We're all different; we can't all be judged by the same set of criterion."

Reno stared at her for a moment, then rolled his aquamarine eyes again."Thanks for that lovely moment of enlightenment, Elena.I'm certainly on the road to spiritual salvation now."His face suddenly darkened, and his eyes became cold."But speaking of friends, you guys certainly aren't very good ones, leaving me behind this morning."

Before Elena could protest, Rude stepped in."Is it all going to come back to that, Reno?" he asked in a strangely terse tone."It certainly didn't seem as if you had anything to complain about while we were gone."

Elena blinked in confusion as silence fell heavily in the air.Oddly enough, Reno made no snappy comeback to Rude's statement.Instead he just stared at his friend with a half-amused, half-sympathetic look in his eyes.Sinking deeper into the chair, the wicker creaking as he did so, Reno drew one leg up and rested an elbow on it, the embodiment of contemplation as his aquamarine gaze remained fastened on Rude, never wavering.For a few moments, Rude, or rather, Rude's sunglasses, stayed trained on Reno's eyes, but a sudden crash of thunder seemed to shatter the tall Turk's resolve, for he looked away from his friend and into the pouring rain.Elena was beside herself with confusion, her eyes darting from one friend to the next, completely baffled.What had just happened?Why did everyone get so quiet all of a sudden?Well, if she just waited for a while, someone was bound to say something…

Finally, three loud crashes of thunder later, Elena couldn't take it anymore."Okay!" she exclaimed."Did I miss something here?" 

Reno didn't even glance at her."Go away, Elena."

Her mouth dropped open."W-What?"

Reno flicked his gaze briefly to her before turning back to Rude."Go somewhere over there," he said, gesturing off-handedly to the other side of the deck, where the rain was senselessly beating a wet wooden rocking chair.

Elena glanced at the pitiful-looking chair, then turned back to Reno with a half-furious, half-hurt look on her face."You want me to go sit over there in the rain?Why?What did I do?"

"Rude and I need to talk," Reno said shortly, still studying Rude and only paying minimal attention to Elena's protests.

"But why can't I—" she started to say.

"Guy talk," Reno snapped, losing patience."Now go."

Elena opened her mouth to say something more, something to tell Reno how unfair he was being, but her throat had stopped working, and nothing but silence came forth.She looked to Rude for help, for comfort, for anything, but he was still staring out into the rain as if the conversation didn't interest him in the least bit.Some dark emotion stabbed at her heart.Never before had she felt so alone in her life.

_ _

_Fine,_ she thought to herself glumly._I know where I'm not wanted.I'll just go sit by myself…alone over there in that chair…out in the rain, out in the cold._

With that, she stalked away, heels making lonely sounds of defeat on the decking as she crossed it and plopped down in the wet chair, her damp clothes and hair now sharing the suffering the piece of furniture had to endure from the ruthless rain.She folded her arms across her chest with grim resolve and tried not to let her loneliness carry her under.

But it wasn't easy.

Reno glanced in passing over to where Elena was sulking at the other end of deck, sitting in the rain.A frown suddenly creased his handsome face.Maybe he had been a little…harsh with her.

Naw…

"Why did you send her away?" Rude suddenly asked, face still impassive as he gazed out at the rain.

Reno looked at him in surprise."What?"

Rude didn't glance over at him, only kept staring at the waterfall that was pouring out of the gutter lining the roof of bar.The great tides of rainwater spewed forth from the mouth of the gutter and splattered the already-saturated grass below the decking that Rude and Reno now stood on.

"You hurt her feelings," Rude continued in a monotone."You know she doesn't like to be left out." 

One corner of Reno's mouth curled up into a small smile."I know that.I'll apologize later.I just didn't think she would be very happy to hear what we're going to discuss, though."

"And that would be what?" Rude asked calmly.

Reno stared at him for a moment with some indiscernible emotion flickering in his aquamarine eyes."Tifa Lockheart," he said softly.

Behind his sunglasses, Rude winced, but he maintained his code of silence and said not a word.

Reno sighed when Rude didn't reply.He hadn't really been expecting one, but still, it would have helped if his friend had at least said something that would have let Reno know what he was feeling.Reno didn't want to say anything that would hurt his friend _too_ much.

"Look, Rude," he began cautiously, staring out into the rain like his silent companion was doing."We've known each other for a long time, you know.Don't you think that by now I know what bothers you and what doesn't?And things concerning Tifa Lockheart tend to get you all worked up."

Reno glanced at his friend.Rude said nothing.

"Why are you still caught up on her, man?" Reno asked softly.

Rude was silent for a long time, watching the rain fall inches away from where he was standing.His light green eyes, hidden by his dark sunglasses, tracked the movements of choice raindrops as they plummeted from the dark heavens to strike the saturated earth.From the angry, abusive skies they fell, seeking refuge and comfort within the the womb of the warm earth, but they were immediately rejected and spit back out by the dirt and grass, both who had had their fair share of rain for the day._A pity to come such a long way down,_ Rude thought, _only to be rejected again and again, to float away endlessly and become lost in a puddle or a river, losing their shapes and themselves._

Rude felt sorry for the raindrops.He knew how they felt.He knew what it was like to scale obstacle after obstacle, bumping shoulders with vicious opponents and sometimes being blown off course entirely.He knew what it felt like to see the finish line, the goal, the dream, looming in the distance.And Rude knew what it was like to trip over a little pebble and fall flat on his face, outstretched fingers inches away from the refuge that was so desperately sought.

Yes, Rude knew the plight of the raindrops, who fell such long way only to meet rejection.But he couldn't tell Reno that.He knew that his red-haired friend tried to empathize with Rude's unspoken emotions, but sometimes…he fell short.Reno just lacked the kind of selfless, father-like traits that were needed to open up and listen completely to what others were feeling.The late Tseng had had those traits, but Reno didn't.Rude could understand that, though.People like Tseng were rare and few, and Rude knew that the death of the former Turk Commander had been a crippling blow to the blue-suited organization…possibly even a death blow.Rude, Reno, and Elena were almost entirely lost without their warm-hearted assassin father to watch over them and listen to their deepest thoughts and feelings.Reno tried his best, but he just couldn't fill the hungry gap that Tseng had left behind.But, still, Rude had to give him a chance.Maybe he could understand…

Face impassive, Rude glanced at his friend, who was watching him with a carefully neutral expression, apparently not wanting to do or say anything that would make Rude clam up and become unresponsive, as was the tall Turk's nature to do.

"Why am I still caught up on her?" Rude echoed softly."Because…I don't know why.I just am.It's like I can't escape from…her."

Reno shook his head slightly, strands of blood-red hair falling across his eyes."But why her, Rude?She's a forbidden fruit, and you know it, buddy.She's already spoken for."

_ _

_That sure didn't seem to stop you,_ Rude thought with uncharacteristic harshness._But then again, it never does, does it?_

The poisonous words were there on the tip of his tongue, fiendish imps dancing in the fires of fury, begging to be spoken, but Rude had long ago conquered these demons.He bit back the stinging words that would have angered and even wounded his best friend.Instead he said, "I know that, Reno.I knew that from the moment I laid eyes on her way back when Sector Seven was still…there.Cloud was never far from her, and I could easily perceive that she had feelings for him, but that didn't stop me…I just don't know how to let her go, Reno."

"She doesn't even know how you feel, Rude," Reno said softly, staring at his friend's profile.

Rude shook his head slightly, his voice acquiring a tinge of sadness."She doesn't need to know.Besides, it would only complicate things even more…than they are now."

Reno sat back in his chair, the wicker creaking in protest to his movement."I suppose you think it's all my fault, don't you?" he asked quietly, but there was no stinging edge in his voice.He sounded more tired than anything else.

"I never said that, Reno," Rude replied, glad that the conversation had taken a different turn, even if it was the lesser of two evils.He had never liked discussing his feelings with others.

"But you implied it," Reno insisted, eyes faraway and misted as he stared out into the rain. "Don't put too many things past me, Rude.I'm a cold-hearted asshole, but I'm a _smart_ cold-hearted asshole, and it's gotten me this far."

Rude didn't know what to say to that.

Silence hung in the air for a few moments before Reno suddenly asked, "Don't you wanna know what happened?"

Rude glanced over at his friend."Whatever you want, Reno," he said quietly."If you wish to talk about it, I'm here to listen."

"I know.You always are, but I'd understand if you don't wanna hear this."

"I doesn't matter to me," Rude deadpanned, feeling uncomfortable.He _did_ want to hear this, but then again, he didn't.

Reno narrowed his eyes at his friend."Okay, then, if it doesn't matter to you, then I'm going to start talking.Just remember, buddy, you dug your own grave by saying you had no opinion on the matter."

_ _

_Turks aren't supposed to have opinions,_ Rude thought._Old habits are hard to break, I'm afraid._

For a moment, Reno floundered for words, something he never did, as Rude waited with suppressed expectation for the explanation that everyone in the bar had been practically begging for.When it didn't come immediately and laced with harsh or perverted overtones, as was the typical Reno style, he braved a glance at his friend and was surprised to see confusion and perplexity creasing his brow.Reno's eyes were misted and strangely troubled as he gazed out at the ill-fated raindrops, and Rude suddenly got the idea that maybe Reno had forgotten he was there.

But then the redheaded Turk suddenly said, "Ya know, I don't know what the hell happened in there, Rude."

"Something must have," Rude said quietly._Something that upset Cloud so much that he felt his place in Tifa's heart was threatened,_ he added silently.

Reno laid his spiky head against the back of the chair, the blood-red strands of his hair dancing like flames against the white backdrop of the painted wicker."Oh, hell yeah," he said in response to Rude's statement."_Something_ happened, definitely.I just don't know what it was.Something…passed between us, and I don't think that…"His voice trailed off.

"Don't think that what?" Rude prodded him, though his heart was screaming at him to stop while he was ahead._I can't take this anymore,_ it told him._Certain words drop off of Reno's wagging tongue, and I'll shatter into a million pieces.Then what would you do?_

Reno, oblivious to Rude's plight, shifted his gaze to his tall friend."Things might be different," he said softly."And all because of what happened in there.Because of what happened between me and Tifa, and because of what Cloud saw."

"And what did Cloud see?" Rude asked hollowly, staring at the wooden decking beneath his feet.The wood was a little rotten; maybe he should tell Tifa later to be careful when she walks over here…

Reno snorted."Cloud saw something that very clearly gave him the wrong impression about the whole thing. I'm telling you the truth when I say that Spike is completely misinterpreting the situation.What he saw was…completely innocent."

_ _

_Nothing is ever innocent with you, Reno.Stop dodging the question and just…tell me.I can handle it…maybe._

"Innocent?" he echoed.

"Innocent," Reno clarified, watching Rude's reaction carefully."Harmless, benign, not threatening in nature."

"Cloud found it threatening," Rude deadpanned.

"_Cloud_ is an asshole," Reno snapped, as if that statement would justify everything.

"Things are going to get rocky," Rude warned.

"Of course they are," Reno growled."He's part of AVALANCHE, and I'm a Turk.Things are always going to be rocky between us."

"Yes, but things are going to be worse after what happened in there.We need to find Reeve, and you and Cloud bickering isn't going to help our efforts."

"What are you trying to say, Rude?" Reno snapped, stiffening in his seat."You blame me, don't you?"

"Blame you for what?"

"You're not helping the conversation, Rude!"

"That's because I'm not quite certain what exactly you're trying to tell me, Reno."

"I'm not trying to _tell_ you anything," Reno snapped.He hesitated for a moment, studying Rude carefully, then said, "I guess, I'm just trying to warn you that – this thing with Tifa."He lowered his head, red ponytail flopping over one shoulder."Something passed between us, and we connected somehow.I can't explain it, Rude, but it was real, whatever it was.I'm just gonna tell you that I intend to…take it further, I guess, though that's not the right way to phrase it."

"What about Cloud?" Rude asked, his own voice suddenly sounding very far away.

Reno suddenly shook his head so emphatically that his ponytail was whipped around to the other shoulder."Cloud is an insensitive prick," he growled."He shouldn't feel at all threatened by what he saw.It's not like that, Rude."

"So you're saying you're not interested in Tifa at all?" Rude asked, afraid to hope._Not like I stand a chance either way…_

Reno shook his head, watching his friend with shrewd eyes."I don't think so.Not in the way you're saying.I mean, the woman's flat out gorgeous, but you already knew that, right?"He grinned.

One corner of Rude's mouth twitched."Right," he agreed.

"But I'm not promising you anything," Reno rushed on."I just don't know how things are going to turn out.Just…be prepared for anything, okay?"

"Sure," Rude deadpanned, his heart beating painfully in his chest."But just promise me one thing, Reno: that you won't ever hurt her."

Reno nodded gravely."I promise, Rude.You have my word."

On the other side of the decking, Elena forlornly held out one of her manicured hands, palm upwards, and watched as hundreds of little raindrops gathered there in her palm, all curled up and cozy against each other, sharing their space easily with one another and losing themselves in a single embrace.Millions of such raindrops had also soaked her suit and pants, clinging to her skin and hair as if trying to offer her comfort – comfort for the lonely woman in the lonely rocking chair sitting alone in the rain even though her friends were not even ten feet away from her.

Shoving her saturated hair away from her face with her free hand, she glanced dimly over to where Reno and Rude were deep in conversation.Or rather, Reno was deep in conversation with the stoic Rude, who was gazing at the decking beneath his boots, his fine, strong back facing in Elena's direction.Looking at them, Rude in particular, Elena felt her heart begin to beat with an even more painful emotion than the loneliness she was feeling.

Quickly averting her chocolate brown eyes, Elena turned her gaze back to the falling raindrops that were inundating the city of Kalm, seeking a place to rest their weary, rejected souls in peace.Though the mixture of thunder and pouring rain prevented her from hearing a single word of her friends' conversation, Elena knew that Reno would only send her away if he and Rude were going to talk about one thing.Reno could normally discuss the most lewd, twisted things without giving a damn who was listening, but Elena knew that the mention of a certain woman in front of Rude tended to make things get really uncomfortable, really fast, especially if Elena was present at the time.And Elena knew the name of that woman…

What Rude saw in Tifa Lockheart, she would always fail to see.So the Final Heaven bartender was pretty, fought with her fists, and had big boobs, who cared?Okay, she was a nice, good person, too, but…that was beside the point!Besides, she belonged with Cloud – yeah, that was it!Rude knew that Tifa was probably in love with Cloud, and Cloud with her, so why did he insist on obsessing over her?He was just going to get his heart broken, and he deserved so much better…

_ _

_What am I thinking?_ Elena berated herself._Why am I so bothered by Rude liking Tifa Lockheart all of a sudden?It's been obvious for a while now that he had it big for her.Why is it starting to bug me now?Why?_

"Why?" she whispered to the falling raindrops, as if they could plummet to the earth and murmur in her ear the answer they had received from the heavens themselves.

Drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her head on them, Elena allowed her thoughts to drift to the stoic, seemingly emotionless man named Rude.When Tseng had first introduced her to him, there had been something about the tall, levelheaded Turk that caused something strange to stir in Elena.Maybe it was the flat yet soothing tones in his deep voice that were music to her ears even though they tended to frighten others.Or maybe it had been the warmth of his fingers brushing her palm as she shook hands with him.There had been something _right there_ beneath the surface that had called to her, something behind those dark sunglasses that were custom made to hide the heart and its thundering emotions…

But whatever it had been, Elena hadn't dwelled on it.All she could think of then was the Turks and Tseng.Everything she did, she did with Tseng in mind.Every test she took, every trial she underwent, she was constantly thinking, "What will Tseng think of this?Will he be impressed?How would he handle this?"Her earth, moon, and stars revolved around Tseng.To her, everything about him was perfect, everything from his long, silken black hair to his deep brown Wutainese eyes.He was a good leader, and he was a good friend.He was flawless, an idol.He was a god.

Then a demon, the god wannabe, a little being with big dreams, that horrible Sephiroth, had tumbled the celestial god from his pedestal in one swift swipe of his sword.Tseng's body had already been cold in death when Reno, Rude, and Elena had rushed into the Temple of the Ancients after having received a call from Reeve saying that Tseng had stopped answering his cell phone.Every detail of the horrific scene was still fresh in her mind, never dying.She remembered Tseng's body lying against the earthen wall, long legs out in front of him, chin on his chest, black hair spread out on either side of his face like the protective plumage of a raven-winged angel.But most of all, she remembered the deathly pale pallor of his skin and the ghastly wound on its chest that had stained his white shirt red with its never-ending flow of bloody tears.

Yes, she remembered it all; she remembered the beastly cry that had suddenly ripped its way out of Reno's throat, echoing forever in the farthest recesses of the Temple.She recalled the way Rude had sagged against one of the pillars in disbelief, his limbs shaking almost uncontrollably before he regained his composure and crouched next to Reno at the fallen Tseng's side.Elena had been the last to join them, running over and burying her face in Tseng's shoulder, trying in vain to muffle her sobs while blubbering to Tseng's dead body about how much she had cared for him, how much had meant to her, and how lost they would be without him.She didn't know how long they had remained there, three Turks mourning the loss of their leader, their friend, their father, the man who had been their world.A man who would never walk, talk, breathe, smile, or laugh again.They were lost.

And when the Temple had started falling down around their ears due to the efforts of AVALANCHE, Reno, fearing for his life and the lives of his friends, had ordered a hasty retreat into the forest.So they had abandoned Tseng's body, left it to be buried with the Temple as its tomb, and they had escaped with their lives, but had all left pieces of their hearts behind at the god's booted feet as sacrifices, silently begging him to forgive them for not being there when he needed them.

And so their world ended, and it never was the same again.The tyrannical, money-hungry Shinra Inc. fell, and the three Turks, finally free of their cage, didn't even bat an eyelash.They were finally released from Shinra's control, fledglings testing their wings, but now it was the memory of Tseng that haunted them and kept them from taking flight.With no one to turn to and nowhere else to go, Elena clung desperately to Reno and Rude, her only two friends in the world.And so she came to love them, despite their faults.And she'd like to think that they loved and respected her, too.

When anyone asked her why she cared so much for the loud, rambunctious Reno and the silent, scary Rude, Elena could immediately make a huge list for them about all the traits in her two friends that she cherished and appreciated.But when someone asked her _how_ she loved each of them, that was when she had trouble explaining.She could easily say that she loved Reno like a brother, for she knew that there would never really be anything else between her and Reno than sibling affection and constant bantering back and forth.But when she went to explain in what way she cared for Rude, she started to stumble over her words.She didn't love Rude in the same way that she did Reno.She couldn't say that Rude was like a brother to her because she knew that the thoughts she sometimes had about Rude were not at all sisterly.Elena had no idea why she felt that way; she just did.

Her feelings for Rude, whatever those were, apparently had either been nonexistent or had chosen to lie dormant during her first years with Shinra, when Tseng had been alive.But after his death and the fall of Shinra, Elena had felt her thoughts straying more and more to the tall, baldheaded Turk who hid his amazing liquid green eyes behind a pair of sunglasses.She found herself thinking about what might have been, about what they might have had if she had just…just…

_ _

_No use thinking about it now,_ she thought sadly as she watched the raindrops fall from the weeping heavens._It's obvious that he's still caught up over Tifa.I wouldn't be surprised if he's in love with her.Seems like everyone is already.How can I compete with someone like that? I can't, that's how._

Elena was so caught up in her morbid thoughts that she almost fell out of her rocking chair when Reno suddenly came up behind the chair and yanked it back as hard as he could, causing Elena to become almost horizontal with the decking as her feet kicked at nothing but air.All she could see was Reno's smiling face the ceiling of the porch.

"Reno!" she cried, holding onto the arms of the chair for dear life."Stop that!Put the chair down!"

Reno grinned down at her as some of his red hair flopped into his eyes."What are you doing sitting here in the rain, Laney?"

God, she _hated_ it when he called her that.Reno came up with the _strangest_ names for her.

"You sent me over here, remember?" she growled up at him, trying to remain as still as possible, lest she tip the chair over with her struggles.Reno still had the chair bent back so that it was balancing precariously on the back ends of its two rockers.

Reno smiled again, aquamarine eyes dancing with impish delight."I did, didn't I?Sorry about that."

"You'd best be sorry," she growled at him good-naturedly, the laughter in his eyes sweetening up her sour mood.

Reno raised an eyebrow."What was that, Elena dear?You weren't just being impolite to me now, were you?You know, this chair is awful slippery…"

Elena's eyes widened."No, Reno!" she cried, tightening her death grip on the arms of the chair."Don't you dare drop me!"

"Leave her alone, Reno," Rude suddenly spoke up from somewhere in front of Elena.She suddenly felt warm hands settle over her rigid ones on the arms of the chair.Her world pitched forward as Reno's face disappeared from view.The chair rocked back to its rightful place, glad playtime was over, and Elena found herself staring right into Rude's sunglasses.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, her cheeks flushing with surprise at finding him so close."Thank you, Rude."

He nodded politely and released his grip on the chair – and her hands – backing up until he stood a more comfortable distance from her, oblivious to the raindrops pounding on his broad back in search of a companion.

Elena suddenly remembered that she was supposed to be angry with them."So," she grumbled, folding her arms across her chest as Reno draped his long arms over the back of her rocking chair."Have you two finished your little male bonding time?Can I be part of the Turks again now?"

Reno smiled at her and patted her on the head, something he did all the time because he knew she hated it."Of course, Elena.You'll always be part of the Turks."

Elena smiled up at him, thankful for his considerate statement, a rarity for Reno.All three of them settled into a comfortable silence as they sat in the rain, alone together in the cold, not wanting to reenter the bar that they all felt they weren't welcome in.Elena started to gather lonely raindrops in her palms again, giving them a place where they could be together for a short period of time before the water flowed over the edge of her hand and into her lap.Reno stood with his arms draped over the back of Elena's rocking chair, being careful not to upset his friend's puddles of raindrops.Rude looked at Elena and her raindrops with silent affection before turning away from his friends and looking out into the city of Kalm, which was in the process of being drowned by the angry heavens.He stood far away from the others so that he could be alone with his thoughts, but not so far away that they were denied the comfort of his presence, should they need it.

All their thoughts were a million miles away.

Reno thought of Tifa and Mika.

Elena thought of Rude and Tseng.

But Rude thought of nothing.He was watching the raindrops.

_Author's Note:Whew…finally finished.It took forever in a day, but I'm finally done.Sorry it took so long, but I had a Resident Evil series that I was trying to finish before I ran out of ideas.Anyways, thanks again to everyone who kept on my case to get on with the next chapter.You guys are the greatest!!~Catalina_


	15. The Agonies of Having Emotions

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Fifteen**

**_ _**

**_The Agonies of Having Emotions_**

_"This sucks."Cloud Strife_

_ _

_Mirror, mirror hanging on the wall_

_You don't have to tell me_

_Who's the biggest fool of all_

_Mirror, mirror I wish you_

_Could lie to me_

_And bring my baby back_

_Bring my baby back to me_

_ _

_"Mirror, Mirror"_

_M2M_

_ _

"Must be nice," Tifa told the chocobo as she held out gloved hands full of greens for him to devour.This particular chocobo was an attractive mountain bird with lovely green feathers that shimmered like gems when wet with dew.Tifa had bred him all by herself, and had named him Stefan after one of her childhood friends from Nibelheim.The chocobo was, of course, very happy to see her and immediately warked, rushing over on the slightly damp ground of his pen and bowing his head to eat the greens from her hands.

Despite her melancholy mood, Tifa smiled as his beak tickled her palms.She was glad that when she and Cloud had built the Final Heaven bar in Kalm, they had had enough room to put in a small pen for eight chocobos in the back.Sure, things tended to get a little cramped, especially when everyone was together like this, but Tifa considered it well worth the effort.She loved chocobos, and she loved having her friends around.

So why wasn't she happy now?

Her smile faded as her thoughts began to spiral downward into darkness.God, why did life have to be so complicated sometimes?Couldn't she be allowed a little smidgeon of happiness and serenity after all she had been through?For a while there, she had thought she was happy.She had her bar, she had her friends, she had her health…and she had Cloud.Happiness for all eternity had been right in front of her face sitting on a silver platter, but she missed out on it due to lack of valor, due to tender words that she kept locked inside of her.How many times had she and Cloud been sitting alone, talking peacefully as if the whole world didn't exist, just enjoying the comfort of each other's presence?And how many times had that Silence fallen, the particular breed of Silence that just screams for words to be spoken, but not just any words, oh no, _The Words_, the ones that would change everything, the ones that would make or break the future of their relationship.One step in the wrong direction, one word neglected, one word too many, and her world could have come crashing around her ears.

She hadn't had the courage to speak the words then, and now she regretted that more than anything.Her shyness seemed so petty now that things were getting turbulent.Would it really have taken much out of her to just look Cloud in those eternally beautiful Mako blue eyes of his and tell him everything, all her thoughts, all her feelings for him?Would it have killed her to do so?

No, it wouldn't have, not then.But now, oh, now it might be a death sentence to go treading onto such thin ice when the lake beneath their feet was so angry and churning.And the fact that their great lake of unspoken thoughts and desires now had another person balancing on its precarious surface was going to make the tangled web into a prodigious labyrinth with a menacing Minotaur lurking around every corner.

Reno…

What had gotten into her then, what had she seen in those eyes that had made her heart and soul respond in such a fashion?It had been like looking in a mirror and seeing her own shadows and pains reflected with equal intensity.And her emotions, rejoicing at having found someone to know their grief, had lurched out desperately to touch that aching soul, to seal that wound.But surely it had been a one-time thing…

_ _

_No,_ something in Tifa's mind sneered._It most definitely wasn't a one-time thing.It'll happen again, rest assured.Every time the name of "Mika" is spoken, that wound in that cold, callous man will begin to bleed again, and you, being the over-sensitive, do-gooder that you are, will stumble over your own two feet trying to help ease his suffering.And in doing so, you will dig your own grave by pushing away the one you've been in love with your entire life.Every time you touch Reno's face with gentleness, you widen the rift between you and Cloud.Every time you pull him into your arms, you flood the rift with water.And every time you stroke that fiery hair with such tender hands, you fill the rift with venomous snakes.Soon that rift will turn into a pit, and that pit into a canyon, and that canyon into an ocean; it will become larger and larger until the one with the Mako blue eyes will be as unreachable as the stars themselves.Pity…_

"No," Tifa murmured softly, the hands holding the greens for Stefan shaking a bit."It can't be that way."

But she knew in the darkest region of her heart that things were rapidly plummeting down in that direction.And she was scared, god, was she ever scared.Scared of what could happen if she said or did the wrong things to the wrong people.Scared of hurting either Cloud or Reno.And most of all, the fear that formed the basis of all her other fears was the terrifying prospect of losing Cloud.

She had never thought of it as a possibility before, especially after all they had been through together.She recalled the silly things he had done for her, or had said to her.Dressing up as a girl to get her out of Don Corneo's greasy paws.Braving those precarious cliffs in the Da Chao mountains to pick a flower that had caught her eye.Allowing himself to be dragged on stage at the Gold Saucer during Enchantment Night.Fumbling for his words as he tried to tell her all the "things" he had planned to say to her.

She had taken for granted that he would always be there, that she would always wake up every morning and come downstairs to see him sweeping the floor or building pyramids with the shot glasses, his bottom lip caught gently between his teeth as he concentrated, knowing that he would catch holy hell if he so much as _cracked_ one of the glasses.Golden hair shimmering in the overhead lights.Blue eyes lighting up as he saw her standing in the doorway.The grim, hard line of his mouth turning up in a smile as he looked at her sheepishly.

God, what would she do without him?Wither up and die, surely.Tifa had failed to realize just how much her world revolved around Cloud until she stood face to face with the hideous possibility that she might actually lose him.And she would be the one to blame.It would be all her fault.

_ _

_But what do I do?_ she wondered futilely._I want nothing more than to be with Cloud forever, but Reno…I can't just leave him like that, with that horrible wound festering inside him like a sickness.It'll kill him one day; I know it will.He has to get help before he's gone to the point of no return…But Cloud…_

Everywhere she turned in this endless labyrinth of emotions, she ran into that godforsaken Minotaur.She needed to help Reno; she _wanted_ to help him.Something inside told her that this mysterious "Mika" was the key to every unseen pain, every unseen grievance that plagued the fiery-haired Turk.But in helping Reno save his own life, she knew that she ran of the risk of driving Cloud out of her life.She was torn.What should she do?The consequences on either side of the coin were heavy, but she knew that this could very well be a lose/lose situation.There was no in-between; she couldn't choose by not choosing.She had done enough of that in her life…

So many decisions.Against Reno's pain and suffering, against his unspoken need to release his demons, she weighed the frigid landscape of Cloud's eyes as he stared at her.Again she saw the water dripping down his face like tears, his eyes cold and heartless, his voice flat and toneless.She never wanted to experience that again.But then Reno's face and eyes loomed in front of her.The scars – from what?And that horrendous internal scar, that gangrenous wound deep in his soul that began to gush again as she spoke that forbidden name.And again she heard Reno whimpering deep in his throat as he tossed and turned in the dark of the night.Again she saw Cloud's cold, dead eyes.

She couldn't take this anymore.

A wark suddenly jolted her from her dark reverie.Tifa's eyes came back from their journey to the Twilight Zone, the place where they tried to make sense of the labyrinth and dodge the Minotaur.It was then that she realized that Stefan had long since finished devouring the greens in her palms and was now nibbling at her hair in a comforting fashion, cooing softly, as if he sensed her pain.His green feathers tickled her cheek.

"Must be nice," she whispered to him, patting his head gently as she felt a lone tear roll down her cheek."I wish I were you, so simple, living life without all the agonies of having emotions.Must be nice…"

* * * * * * * * * * 

_Why did I let you walk away_

_When all I had to do was_

_Say I'm sorry_

_I let my pride get in the way_

_And in the heat of the moment_

_I was to blame_

_I must be stupid, must be crazy_

_Must be out of my mind_

_Now in the cold light of the day I realize_

_ _

_"Mirror, Mirror"_

_M2M_

The blades of the fan spun slowly on the ceiling, stirring the dead air of the room and sending small breezes down to the man lying on the bed.The reluctant wisps of cool air brushed across his pale, inanimate face, trying again and again to ease the tension written in every feature, every muscle.They swept over the grim, hard line of his mouth, trying to get the jaw to unclench and the lips to soften.When they failed there, the breezes whispered over the muscles around the eyes, which were narrowed in some warped form of inward concentration.Again they gently touched the dark blond eyelashes, whispered through the thin eyebrows, trying to get the muscles to relax and make the man's expression less forbidding.

But Cloud was in no mood to relax, and the breezes soon gave up and dissipated into nothing, leaving the burden of their job to their descendants that were already being birthed from the fan's spinning blades.

Outside, thunder still rumbled with contentment at its own strength, beside itself with narcissism as it gave forth its mighty roars.Cloud snorted in annoyance and rolled onto his side, making sure he was facing away from the window and the rain was that was pounding against it in such an aggravating fashion.But now that he couldn't occupy himself by watching the fan blades spin around and around, he had nothing else to do but study the swirling grain of the door that was clear to his Mako-enhanced vision even though the door itself was a considerable distance away.Cloud traced the spiraling swirls of the door's wood for as long as he could, but then his emotions caught up with him again, and he flipped back onto his back, giving up his effort at distracting himself.

He was very ashamed, not to mention embarrassed, for the way he had acted in front of his friends.Cloud knew that he had many, many faults, but losing complete control of his temper like that had never been a very serious one of them.The only time he could recall that he had let his emotions wield total power over his actions was when he had desperately rushed into the Nibelheim Mako Reactor and impaled the maniacal Sephiroth with Zack's sword.Back then it had worked to his advantage – sort of – but now it was making him look childish and out-of-control, the last thing anyone needed at the moment.

_ _

_And all because I saw Reno and Tifa together like that,_ he thought sourly, the vivid image of them in each other's arms once again rising up before his unfocused eyes like the ghastly visage of Lucifer in the pits of hell.

Shaking his head violently and barely containing the urge to yank at his hair, Cloud shoved the picture from his mind and strove to concentrate all his thoughts on planning, something he had failed to do when he had had everyone together.

_ _

_Okay,_ he told himself._Vincent and Yuffie are back and safe and are not missing any body parts.Good.I pissed Yuffie off, but she'll get over it.Memo to self: don't call her a brat again.Now…Reeve.Still missing.Where could he be?No earthly clue._

_ _

_I shouldn't have left her alone with Reno…_

_ _

_No, Cloud!Focus!Reeve!Okay, find the Running Man.Where's the Running Man?Hell if I know._

_ _

_I should have known Reno would take advantage of her…_

_ _

_Damn me!Running Man!Now, Rude saw him in the remains of Hojo's lab.Would he go back there?It would be pretty stupid of him to do so, but it's all we have to go on.We're not going to go on another ghost ship chase…_

_ _

_What will I do without her?_

Cloud let out a cry of frustration that was happily mimicked by the rumbling thunder.He couldn't concentrate on anything!One of his closest friends was missing, probably in the hands of a madman or maybe even dead by now, and all he could think about was one woman!What did that tell him?Gee, well, maybe he was in love…

And he was, he knew he was.Would there have ever been anyone else for him?Aeris had been a possibility for a while, but now she was dead.Sure, he missed her a great deal and sometimes it hurt even to think about her and all she had done for them, but all along, something inside him had told him that Tifa Lockheart was the only woman for him.Maybe it was the memory at the well so long ago that kept this thought pounding through his head, or maybe it was the knowledge that he had gone off to join SOLDIER just to get her to notice him.Then again, it very well could have been the fact that she had remained faithfully at his side when he had had Mako poisoning, basking him in the warm comfort of her presence even though he had no recollection of her being there.She had braved the voices and fury of the Lifestream for him, all to help him rediscover himself, the Cloud Jacob Strife that he had thought was lost forever, lost into the horrible servitude of being a mere Sephiroth-clone, the puppet Jenova had believed him to be.Tifa had taught him to believe in himself, in the memories they had together.She had taught him how to feel, to smile, to cry, to…love.

And now she was fading out of his life, it seemed, being sucked into the abyss by a fiery-haired demon to which lies and treachery and deceit meant nothing.Love meant nothing to Reno.Devotion meant nothing to Reno.Tifa as a person meant nothing to Reno.All the redheaded Turk was interested in was her body, with its generous curves and creamy skin.That's all Reno was ever interested in.A man like that didn't know the meaning of the word love; to him, love was synonymous with lust, with carnal desire.Such a man would defile Tifa, taint her with his poison.Cloud couldn't let that happen.

_ _

_God, what am I thinking?_ he wondered._Maybe I'm overreacting completely.Maybe what I saw didn't mean anything to either of them.But is there any other logical explanation for it?Who does Reno think he is, moving in on my…_

_ _

_And _who_ do you think _you_ are, Strife?_ a voice in the back of his mind suddenly sneered._You're treating the one you love most as if she's some sort of _possession_, a cherished item your macho defense mechanism refuses to let go of because you think it belongs to you and you alone.What kind of person does that make you?A coward, that's what!You had your chance to make her your companion for the rest of your life.For a year you danced around your emotions, filled with uncertainty and ambivalence, wimping out when you had just gotten the courage to ask her what you've probably been planning to ask her your entire life.You were on top of the world, and you refused to see the beauty that was all around you, refused to submit to its majesty because you thought it was too good to be true.And now look what happened.You missed the boat, buddy, and now you're drowning in the cruel sea, all alone.Don't you think all the other fish were just waiting for you to do something like that so they could have an opportunity to hoist themselves up onto the boat with the sea goddess?Man, you really screwed up this time…_

It was times like this that Cloud wished that Sephiroth had been right, that Cloud was only a puppet who had no emotions, who only pretended to be sad or angry.A puppet, a clone to whom tears came easily but without meaning.Cloud wished he felt nothing.He wished he were cold inside, his soul a frozen landscape of hollow thoughts and no feelings whatever.He wished he was heartless and aloof, his eyes empty and icy.Sort of like Vincent.

But no such luck.

Shifting his weight slightly on the soft mattress, Cloud rolled onto his side and growled into the pillow, "This sucks."

And the thunder rumbled in agreement.

_Author's Note:Fairly short, really crappy chapter.Well, I couldn't just leave Cloud and Tifa hanging like that!Don't worry, though, more Vincent and Yuffie in the next chapter. You have my word!!!^_^Thanks to anyone who is reading!_

e-mail [catalina2717@go.com][1]

   [1]: mailto:catalina2717@go.com



	16. The Stuff Nightmares Are Made Of

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Sixteen**

**_ _**

**_The Stuff Nightmares Are Made Of_**

_"And he's about as interesting as a pile of bricks, so who suffered more, huh?"Yuffie Kisaragi_

_ _

_If there's a way to infiltrate you_

_Sway your mind and complicate you_

_I'm gonna crash into your world_

#### And that's no lie

_ _

_"Violet"_

_Savage Garden_

"Ow!Stupid chocobo!" Yuffie cried, clutching her punctured hand to her chest."That hurt, you dumb bird-brain!"

Butterfly just warked loudly and turned her face away from the indignant girl at the front of her pen, refusing to acknowledge the presence of the master who had left her to stew in the rain for an entire day.

"Gawd!" Yuffie exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips."It's not like I meant to leave you behind, dummy!Besides, you had Lamia with you keep you company.Look at me!All I had to keep me company for the past day was Vincent Valentine!And he's about as interesting as a pile of bricks, so who suffered more, huh?"

Butterfly just stared at her with her big blue chocobo eyes.

Yuffie smirked at the bird."That's what I thought.Yeah, you'd better shut up.Who's the dumb one now?"

Butterfly blinked at her.

Yuffie sighed, leaning against the gate of the pen."Yeah, yeah, I know, I know.The idiot ninja girl who's standing here talking to her chocobo like the bird-brain could actually answer back – that's who's the retard, right?"

Butterfly warked in agreement, swishing her feathered tail back and forth proudly as if it was the plumage of a peacock rather than just several plain blue feathers.

Yuffie scowled at the azure bird, but started digging through the bag of greens hung near the door."You know, Butt-butt," she said conversationally, using her charming pet name for her chocobo."You'd better watch what you say to me, or I'll just ask Cid to feed you from now on, and you know how inconsistent he is with his feedings.He's worse than Barret, you know."

Butterfly smartly ignored Yuffie's babbling, more interested in what Yuffie was going to dig out of the bag than in any lecture the girl was giving her.She was still sticking stubbornly to the back wall of her pen, like she always did when she was being standoffish with Yuffie.But the young ninja knew that as soon as she had one of the magical greens in her hands, Butterfly would be stumbling over her feet trying to be her friend again.

The girl yanked a Curiel green out of the bag and smiled at Butterfly, waving the leafy sustenance in the air enticingly.The blue chocobo immediately perked up, her foul mood starting to evaporate as her appetite got the best of her.

"Lookee here!" Yuffie sang cheerfully."A yummy, tasty green for my favorite chocobo!Hmmm…should I give it to her or not?"

"I think she'll take your hand off if you don't," a deep voice suddenly said.

Yuffie screamed in shock and whirled around, the Curiel green falling from her hand and into Butterfly's pen, where it was immediately consumed by a very contented blue chocobo.

"Vinnie Valentine!" Yuffie bellowed, angry gray eyes fastened on the dark figure that was standing in the threshold of the door leading into the chocobos' barn."You scared the living crap out of me!If you ever do that again, I'm gonna run over there and smack you upside your head so hard you won't know what hit you!"

Vincent didn't even blink or show the least interest in what Yuffie had been blathering about.She could have been rattling on about the price of tea in Junon for all the attention he seemed to be paying her.Not even bothering to reply to her tirade, he simply moved away from the threshold and padded across the hay-covered floor of the chocobos' barn.Yuffie, who was trying to desperately stop her heart from pounding right out of her chest, glared at the dark man indignantly as he brushed past her without a word.

"Vinnie!" she snapped, putting her hands on her narrow hips and realizing belatedly that her borrowed shorts had begun to slide again.She hurriedly hitched them up and continued, "I was talking to you, Vincent!The polite thing to do is answer back, you know!"

Still refusing to reply, the dark gunslinger strode over the pen that housed Lamia, his chocobo.Only seconds after he had reached the front of her pen, a soft wark could be heard as Lamia roused herself from her resting spot on the hay-softened floor and rushed over to greet her master.Vincent leaned against the gate to the pen and patted the ebony bird gently on the head with his normal hand, pale, naked fingers stroking the soft feathers lightly.Lamia cooed softly and started nibbling on Vincent's jet-black hair, which was still hanging majestic and loose around his head.

Yuffie stared at the two of them for a second before sighing."You're so lucky," she told Vincent.

"However so?" he asked without looking at her.

"Your chocobo is so cool," she lamented, shooting a venomous glare at where Butterfly was combing her feathers with her beak."My chocobo is being a…well, you know what she's being."

Vincent didn't reply.He pulled a bag of greens off the shelves next to Lamia's pen and threw a couple of bundles into the chocobo's pen, where they landed on the ground right in front of the large bird.Lamia cooed her thanks to her master, and immediately began to devour the greens as Vincent looked on, his long arms draped over the wooden gate and one booted foot hooked into the space between the wooden boards.

Yuffie leaned thoughtfully against Butterfly's pen, forgetting that she was supposed to be angry at her chocobo.She fell into staring at Vincent, her mind light years away from the barn.Vincent's still had found nothing to tie his hair back with, and the soft-looking black tresses shimmered in the dim light that the lanterns provided the barn with.He stood watching his chocobo with a calm, almost serene expression on his face, red eyes downcast so that his long eyelashes were all the more obvious now that the brilliant majesty of his garnet eyes didn't distract from them.The man shifted slightly, lean muscles flexing underneath his loose covering of clothes.Now that she saw him standing instead of sitting, Yuffie realized that the shirt and pants he wore were actually a few sizes too big for him.The black pants sort of bunched up around the ankles, and the collar of the shirt hung low enough to expose his collarbone and a blessedly small section of his well-muscled chest.

All in all, he was a sight for sore eyes.He looked almost…normal.

So enraptured Yuffie was with the uniqueness of her companion's appearance that she didn't notice that she had been staring at him until she saw cool garnet eyes locked onto her gray ones, staring back.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, turning bright red and floundering for words.Why did this always happen with Vincent?It seemed he was always catching her staring at him like a total moron.

"Um," she said, trying to make up for her little faux pass."Whose shirt is that?" she suddenly blurted."It's too big."

"Rude's," Vincent answered calmly, undeterred by her bluntness.

Yuffie lifted an eyebrow."Are you sure?"

"He's the one that gave it to me.Why?"

"Half of the buttons are missing," Yuffie responded, proud of her observation."Rude would never have a shirt with missing buttons in his wardrobe."She pointed matter-of-factly to the bottom of Vincent's shirt."See there."

Vincent nodded."I noticed."He didn't say anything more.

Yuffie resisted the urge to stamp her foot in frustration.Vincent was so freakin' hard to talk to!"Well?" she prompted."What happened to it?" 

"Rude lent it to Reno one day.In a drunken stupor, Reno got the bottom of it caught in a door, and, instead of opening the door and pulling it out like any sober person would have, he yanked on it until the shirt came free of the door, hence the missing buttons." 

Yuffie placed her hands on her hips and grinned at Vincent smugly."See!" she said."Now, was that so hard?You could have just said that from the beginning and it would have saved me a lot of breath."

"And why would I have wanted to do such a thing?"

Yuffie scowled, not sure whether or not Vincent was insulting her."Because if I lose all my precious breath, I can't talk!"

"What a pity that would be," Vincent said, turning away from her and starting to pet Lamia again.

Yuffie's gray eyes widened, and she raised her fists, about to go off on him, but then she suddenly sighed and dropped her hands at her sides."You know what, Vinnie, just punch yourself really hard in the shoulder right now.I'm too sore and tired to go over there and do it."

"What happened to your hand?" Vincent asked suddenly, still not looking at her.

The girl blinked dumbly for a couple of seconds before she realized what Vincent was talking about."Oh?My hand?Butterfly—oh my god, you stupid chocobo!You made me bleed!"

And sure enough, the hand that Butterfly had pecked with her beak earlier had a small droplet of crimson blood welling up in the puncture wound and starting to dribble down the side of Yuffie's hand.Between fighting with Butterfly and arguing with Vincent, Yuffie had failed to notice her injury.But now that she beheld the damage her chocobo had done, the little hole in her hand stung like crazy, and Yuffie was definitely not happy about it.Her temper vanished in an instant.

Butterfly warked in alarm and scampered to the back of her stall as Yuffie kicked the pen's door with one booted foot."Dumb bird!" she cursed angrily."As if I don't already have enough holes and bruises on my body, you had to go and add one more!Are you happy now, huh?!Well, guess what?How would you like to find out what it's like not to eat for _two_ days instead of one, or maybe…two weeks!How would you like that, huh?!"

"It's not her fault, Yuffie," Vincent said flatly, his calm voice easing the violent words that still hung in the air.

"Great!And now Vinnie's siding with the damn chocobo!" she raged, turning her scowling face to her dark companion."Thanks for making my day end just perfectly, Vincent!"Somewhere in the back of her mind, Yuffie knew that she was taking out her stress and worries on Vincent, but she was far too aggravated to really notice much of anything at the time.

Vincent, of course, showed not a shred of emotion in response to Yuffie's outburst.He gave Lamia's head one last pat, the kind of resigned gesture one makes when they're about to make an exit from a situation suddenly turned awkward.Vincent placed the bag of greens back on the shelf and started to walk away, his blue-black hair shimmering in the lantern-lit barn.

All of Yuffie's anger immediately evaporated._Crap!_ she thought._I did it again!Leave it to me to chase him away just when he might have started to get chatty.Damn me!Why can't I do anything right?Now he probably thinks I'm Super PMS Woman…_

But, to Yuffie's surprise, instead of walking towards the barn door, Vincent strode silently over to where she was shifting uncomfortably in front of Butterfly's pen.Before she could react or open her mouth, his claw reached out and took gentle hold of her injured hand, lifting it up in front of him so he could see it better in the light.A thin stream of blood was still running from the small puncture hole like a liberated imp, and Vincent suddenly produced a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped away the red stream before it could drip onto the barn floor.

"The blood should clot in a little while," he said calmly, wrapping the handkerchief around the small wound and tying it there.

"Um, thanks," Yuffie muttered, not knowing what else to say.Having Vincent this close to her, touching her, was making her dizzy.There was so little space between their bodies that she was practically standing on his feet, the warm closeness of his presence soothing her in ways that were outside physical comprehension.The clean smell of soap drifted from his unbound hair, and Yuffie barely caught herself in time when she found herself leaning closer to Vincent, trying to breathe in his scent even more deeply.The man was lightly running his fingers over the tender flesh surrounding Yuffie's puncture wound, each unconscious brush of his callused fingertips sending waves of pleasure coursing through Yuffie's body.

_ _

_He keeps doing that,_ she thought giddily._And I'm going to have to beat a hasty retreat out of here._

She felt a mixture of relief and disappointment when Vincent suddenly stopped his ministrations, but her heart suddenly leapt up into her throat when she felt the fingers of his human hand brush against her bruised cheek with startling gentleness.

"Ow," she said automatically, more out of surprise from his caress than any pain she was in.The bruise had actually stopped hurting long ago.

"Forgive me," Vincent apologized in his typical monotone, his soft breath whispering gently across her skin as his warm fingers brushed over her bruise again.She was staring right up into his face, her punctured hand still gripped loosely in his claw.

"No," Yuffie replied hastily to Vincent's apology."You didn't hurt me.I was just surprised, that's all."

Vincent didn't respond, only continued to run his fingers over her bruised cheek.Yuffie's head was swimming with the intoxication of having him so close, and she was having a difficult time getting her thoughts straight.She kept thinking about how warm Vincent's fingers were, or how the light from the lanterns flickered in the depths of his garnet eyes like fires in the night.His lips were very slightly parted as he studied her bruise, for some reason making him look too vulnerable for a man of his age.A lock of blue-black hair suddenly flopped over his right eye, and he tossed his head unconsciously to put it back in its rightful place.

_ _

_Oh my God,_ Yuffie thought dumbly._He's absolutely gorgeous!How come I never noticed that before?I wonder what he thinks of me?Does he…No, Yuffie!Get those thoughts out of your head right now!This is not the time to be getting a crush on Vincent Valentine!He's a grown man…and you're just a girl.It can never be…_

"Does it still hurt?" Vincent suddenly asked.

Yuffie blinked."Um…does what still hurt?"

"Your bruise," Vincent answered calmly, garnet eyes not even flickering in her direction.

"Oh!" Yuffie exclaimed, feeling like an idiot."No, not too much anymore, I mean, you know."She laughed weakly."Guess the Brother of Battle was gentle with me, huh?"

Vincent's eyes suddenly fastened onto hers in surprise."You remembered that?" he muttered, fingers still hovering over her bruise.

Yuffie nodded."Of course, Vincent.It's not like I never listen to what you say.You said the Brother of Battle had given me a kiss."

Vincent continued to stare, a strange emotion flickering in the crimson depths of his eyes.

"So," Yuffie floundered after letting the silence drag on for a few more seconds."Who exactly was the Brother of Battle anyways?You said you'd tell me."

For a moment, Vincent's garnet eyes remained locked onto hers with a gentle intensity, but then he suddenly averted them, apparently finding the wall more interesting at the moment."I'll tell you later, Yuffie."

Yuffie scowled at his profile."No fair, Vinnie.You said the same thing back at that horrible place with that…green light."She repressed the urge to shudder, barely."C'mon, Vinnie!Tell me!"

Vincent stared at her, his fingers suddenly brushing her cheek lightly."I'll tell you," he promised."If you'll tell me what song you were singing last night."

Yuffie blinked, horribly confused for one second, but then she flushed in embarrassment when she realized what he was talking about."You mean, when I was singing in the shower?" she stammered."You were listening?"

Amusement suddenly flickered in Vincent's eyes, even as a lock of black hair suddenly tried to hide that emotion from her view."It's not like I never listen to what you say, Yuffie," he said softly.

The young girl's eyebrows shot upwards, and a smirk came to her face."Oh my god!Vinnie made a funny!Vinnie made a funny!"

Vincent cast his gaze away, looking uncharacteristically bashful, and he gave a short peal of rumbling laughter that came from deep in his chest and never entered his throat.Though he never cracked a smile once, Yuffie perceived a strange relaxation in his demeanor that she would never dream of finding in Vincent.Was he comfortable around her?Wow, that would be a first.The notion of Vincent Valentine actually relaxing and "chilling" for a change was as inconceivable as Cid surviving without cigarettes for five minutes.

Unfortunately, his relaxed state didn't last for long.His gaze suddenly shifted back to her face, so quickly, in fact, that it actually startled her.Her body suddenly froze up as a rabbit's does when it senses danger.A dark shadow seemed to fall over Vincent's face, subtly contorting his features until he seemed more like a creature that was to be feared than pitied.The shade of his eyes could suddenly be more accurately described as "demon red" instead of "garnet."A mass of uneven bangs suddenly rushed forward to fall over one eye, as if trying to hide prevent Yuffie from seeing what lay in those fiery depths.But that red eye, that one red eye, still glared out at her from between spaces in the strands of midnight hair, the crimson glow refusing to let up its soundless assault.She was suddenly all too aware of the fact that her hand was still gripped in his claw, about how wickedly sharp the digits of the false appendage were…

Yuffie let out a startled gasp as Vincent suddenly moved past her, fingers falling away from where they had been hovering close to her cheek.Later on that night, when she would be fighting sleep, fighting the nightmares, Yuffie would reflect on that one moment as Vincent moved past and away from her.She would realize with a start that she had memorized every single detail about that one motion.She would remember how his human fingertips, callused from all kinds of hardships and labor that he had been faced with in his lifetime, brushed like a ghost's whisper across her face, just under her bruise, one last time.She would remember his long blue-black hair tickling her bare shoulder as he strode past so coldly, so suddenly.She would remember the sound his rustling clothes made, the sudden wiff of clean soap that drifted to her from his body as he moved past her.She would remember even minute detail of his passage, down to the soft fabric of his borrowed shirt, to the aching void in front of her that Vincent had previously occupied.

Then, just like that, the moment was gone.She was facing empty air, her hands limp at her sides, her eyes overbright as they stared at the spot where Vincent Valentine had been standing just a second before.She could hear him moving away towards the door of the barn, his boots only making the faintest noises on the ground as he moved like a phantom in a dream.

Her next actions were on pure reflex.Somewhere in the back of her rational mind, she knew that Vincent had left suddenly for a reason, and that reason was probably to be alone with whatever dark emotions she had glimpsed in those crimson orbs before he made his great escape.Her common sense told her that the man with those eyes of hellish fire was a _dangerous_ man, an assassin, a murderer.The logic of her human mind told her that she needed to be deathly afraid of Vincent Orion Valentine.

But Yuffie Pristina Kisaragi, daughter of Kira Ayami Kotori and Lord Godo Kisaragi, had never been known for her common sense.Her heart was at the controls now – her heart was pulling the strings to make her dance, and her blessed, bleeding heart told her that she needed to stop him, that something was wrong with him.Her heart said that Vincent needed her help.

"Hey!" she cried, her own voice sounding far away as she whirled around."Vincent!Where are you going?"

"Sleep," came the flat, cold answer.No life in his words at all.Just sharp sounds that were soon lost in the air of the barn.He never once stopped walking.

"Oh," Yuffie said, feeling rejected."But I thought we were going to talk about my song…"

_ _

_No!What are you doing, fool girl?!You can't tell him about that song!Are you crazy?!_

"Later," was all Vincent said.His hair danced a little goodbye waltz for her as he flung open the door leading into the bar and vanished, the wooden door slamming violently behind him.

Then Yuffie was alone, and all was quiet.She lowered her head in dejection, a few wayward strands of brown hair coming out of her ponytail to flutter lonely in the air in front of her bowed head.Her lower lip suddenly trembled, and she bit down hard on the pink flesh in anger of her own weakness.Her view of the hay-covered ground suddenly became blurry as unexpected tears sprung into her stormy gray eyes.

"No!" she suddenly whisper-screamed, clenching her hands into fists, her punctured hand protesting loudly."You _will not_ cry!You _will not_ cry!" she told herself fiercely though clenched teeth."You are not a baby anymore!You are a young woman, and you are not going to cry like a sissy!"

_ _

_Sure, you big baby, tell yourself that all you like!You know you won't be able to do it!Go ahead and cry your little eyes out!You were just snubbed!He can't stand being around you…_

Yuffie hissed under her breath and covered her face with her hands, pressing back against her tightly-shut eyes as if that harsh pressure would stop the tears that were threatening to flow out like raindrops forsaken by their respective heavens.Her breaths were coming thick and ragged, and her entire body was shaking from head to toe.

_ _

_God, what is wrong with me?!He's just a man!He's just one man!He has issues!It was nothing personal, you big wuss!Pull yourself together!_

Despite the way she had been treated by her master in the recent past, Butterfly just couldn't cower at the back of her pen while her rider was shaking and trembling in the middle of the barn.The blue chocobo cooed softly, her big eyes alight with the chocobo version of concern as she took a cautious step towards the gate of her pen, closer to Yuffie's quivering form.In the pens on either side of Butterfly, the Vincent's chocobo Lamia and Jet, Cid's green chocobo, also cooed in an attempt to ease the soul aches of the young girl who smelled of suffering and tears.

But Yuffie didn't hear the soothing voices of the birds behind her.She suddenly dropped her hands away from her face, wetness glistening on the palms as the lantern light struck the tears she hadn't been able to prevent.She raised her face up so that the light also glinted off the two glittering, silver tracks on her cheeks.

"Vincent," she said softly, her voice somehow rising above the sympathetic cooing of the chocobos."What's wrong with you, Vincent?Why are you like that?Why?I don't understand you, Vincent.For a moment there, you were almost human again.Why did you return back to the monster you think you are?Why?I don't understand, Vincent Orion Valentine.I just don't understand…"

Silence descended once again as Yuffie's words died in the air.All was quiet for two seconds before Yuffie spoke again, her voice ringing out softly, without wavering or trembling – the strong voice of a woman.

"Without you beside me tonight, Vincent, I'll have nightmares."

But, of course, no one was around to hear her admission but the chocobos.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 

The Planet was bleeding.The earth was dry, cracked and barren, and the blood raining from the churning heavens was a poor substitute for what the land really needed.The rivers ran red.The horrible stench of death and decay and fear was everywhere, absolutely everywhere.Not one inch of the land was spared from the wings of…of…whatever was doing this destruction.Bodies lay festering in the heat, bloated and stinking, all of their expressions frozen in the epitome of terror.Some of these bodies had primitive weapons of destruction lying beside them, and that was fine.Their deaths were either honorable or well deserved, if they had died the warriors that they appeared to be.

_ _

_…WAR…_

The battlefield was alive with motion.Millions upon millions of bodies, all bearing indistinct, insignificant faces upon their bodies, screamed from unseen mouths as they murdered and slaughtered each other in the name of whatever it was they were fighting for: religion, honor, loyalty, freedom.Blood stained the cracked earth in mass amounts as weapon after weapon tore into sensitive flesh, opening up horrendous wounds that spurted the thick red liquid like bile from the throat of a sick child.Metal clanged against metal as the two – three? Four?Five? – titanic armies clashed on the barren battlefield, all bathed in a hellish red light that emanated from the glowering heavens above.There were flashes of multicolored light amongst the writhing, battling bodies as several of the warriors called upon their coveted magic abilities to endear them to Victory's heart.Yes, all this blood, all this fighting, all this death, all this suffering, all this…chaos.

_ _

_…YES, WAR IS GOOD…_

But all in the name of what?These faceless armies have forgotten their meanings.They've ceased to become individuals and are just one seething, murdering mass of bodies, no, of machines.Wars have no meaning at all.It is only in the talks before, during, or after the wars that the leaders of the armies discuss the cause for which they fight.Peace, justice, freedom.Yes, worthy, noble causes, all of them.But when the first platoons of killers in the guise of saviors set foot on the battlefield, how many of them still recall the reason they are out there?A few might, a few who are strong, noble, and true to themselves and to others.But the vast majorities suddenly have no cause at all.They have forgotten or just don't care.Wars with true, noble causes are beautiful, and the blood left behind by them sows the seeds of the land and may in turn bring great things.Wars without qualm or conscience are hideous things, great and terrible, eaters of their own children, destroyers of their own land, ghastly mothers as titanic as the ocean itself, spawning only more and more killers from their bloody wombs and laughing maniacally as their offspring give birth to yet more pointless fighting.

Vincent Valentine was at the center of this bloody matrix, and yet he did not understand it all.

_ _

_…WAR IS GOOD…_

Blood.

_ _

_"Who are you?!"_

WAR.More blood.

_ _

_"What is this?!"_

Blood, ceaseless and flowing eternal.The rivers are as blood.The mountains are covered in it.The ocean belches its tides, chock full of the red stuff.The angry skies spit torrents of it down to the parched earth.

_ _

_…YES, WAR IS GOOD…_

_ _

_"What?!"_

Consciousness.A sense of self.A sense of humanity.

"_Why?!I don't understand!Why are wars good?!"_

_ _

_…WARS ARE CHAOS…_

_ _

_"Chaos?!No…"_

Vincent woke up.

For a moment, he just laid there in bed in the cold dark, letting the light drizzle pattering against the window soothe his frazzled nerves.He was completely still, as still as death.The sounds and motions all around him moved on without him, as most of the world tended to do to an abomination like him.Lights from a streetlamp outside seeped in through the opaque glass of his window and danced in neat patterns on his bedspread, only broken by the glittering raindrops that slithered down the window.The fan above him creaked softly as it spun, drying the sweat that had appeared on his bare chest and upper lip sometime during his restless sleep.Vincent's garnet eyes were open wide in the darkness.He blinked slowly.

The bed creaked softly as he suddenly rose up into a sitting position, the handmade bedspread falling away from his muscular chest and down to his waist.The room suddenly spun, and Vincent had to brace himself with one hand against the mattress to avoid falling onto his side.

He rubbed his face with his human hand, wiping away the salty sweat from his forehead and trying desperately to get his heart to stop pounding so loud.He felt cold and hot at the same time, a sensation that he had rarely felt in his entire life, a sensation often attributed to severe illnesses.For a moment, as the room whirled around him and his heartbeat thudded in his ears, he felt his head become dizzy with fever, but it was gone as quickly as it had come.

"Was that a dream?" he suddenly whispered, his deep voice lonely in the darkness of the room.

_ _

_No,_ he argued with himself as he rubbed his eyes._Too vivid to be a dream.More like a memory.But even though a monster like me has many bloody memories to reflect upon, that horrific battlefield with faceless warriors is not one of mine.And if it's not mine, then it must be…_

"You!" Vincent suddenly gasped, his hand falling away from his face in shock as realization dawned on him."You, unholy demon!Chaos!Your memory?No!How can that be!"

The very idea was horrifying even to a cold, callous man like Vincent.A demon with memories?A demon with thoughts?A demon with dreams?

"Of course, you bloody fool," Vincent whispered harshly to himself."It thinks.It reacts to stimuli like any human would do.It has thoughts, and it seems to have the ability to feel at least the most primitive of emotions, but…memories…"

Vincent's mind was trying vainly to use logic to process the recent unveilings._If Chaos has memories of battles such as those,_ Vincent thought, _that would mean that Chaos had once been free, that it had once lived, a creature with a beating heart and skin that could be touched, pierced.It could bleed.It could suffer.It could scream.It could…die?It's intelligent, but I already knew that.It thinks, but I don't hear its thoughts.It doesn't let me.Does it feel? Does it know what fear is?Does it know what honor is?Is it aware of its situation right now?Is it aware of…me?_

"Are you listening?" Vincent demanded of the darkness around him, a lonely man in the inky gloom of his room, speaking to the air as if it could respond."Do you hear what I think, Chaos?Do you know that I am the host and you live within me?Do you know…me?"

No answer, external or internal.The demon was silent, as it always was, for it never used words.It had no use of them, at least that's what Vincent assumed.It was then that the man realized that everything he supposedly "knew" about the Chaos beast were just mere assumptions or theories.He knew it was powerful, and that it was destructive, and he knew what it looked like, but that was basically all.The rest of his knowledge was just ideas he had about the demon, about its life span, about how it came to be, about its personality, if such creatures could have personalities.

Vincent lowered his head, staring at the blanket still draped over his legs.His long black hair swooped forward to cling comfortingly to the small trickles of cold sweat still sitting on his cheeks.He closed his eyes.

"Chaos," he said to the darkness behind his eyelids."Who are you?"

No answer, but he felt a shifting in his mind and couldn't help but wonder if the beast had somehow heard his words.

Sighing, Vincent flung back the blanket and lowered his feet to the hardwood floor, reaching for his discarded shirt in the same fluid motion.There would be no more sleep for him tonight.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Take one drink when you hear thunder," Cloud muttered to himself, poking at the shot glass with one naked finger, as if the glass were something distasteful that he didn't trust himself to pick up with his bare hands.The alcohol sloshed against the sides in amusement.

Thunder roared outside, and Cloud downed the glass in one gulp, wincing as the liquid burned his throat.He hated drinking, but it helped with the pain.But when he had become such a weakling, using alcohol to tell his problems to?This was more like something he would find Reno doing…

_ _

_Reno…_

"Take one drink when you see lightening," Cloud told himself, refilling the shot glass with a bottle of…whatever he had picked up beneath the counter.He watched the clear liquid fill the glass, then set the bottle back on the counter beside his elbow.He waited.

Lightening flashed outside the window, lighting up the front room of the bar where Cloud and his bottle sat alone in quiet companionship.The ex-SOLDIER lifted the shot glass and downed more of the alcohol.It didn't burn so much this time.He wondered what Tifa would say if he drank the whole bottle…

_ _

_Tifa…_

Cloud suddenly swept the shot glass aside with one violent brush of his strong arm, not bothering to see if it had shattered on the floor or not.He scowled at the bottle of whatever in front of him, a sudden anger making his vision turn red at the corners."Take one drink when your life sucks so bad that you feel like maybe that crazy bastard Sephiroth had the right idea when he was going around killing people and threatening to blow up the world!"

With that said, Cloud grabbed the bottle by the neck and took a long chug, the potent liquid searing his throat as it went down and making his head spin.He grunted and took the bottle away from his lips, wiping the small trickles of alcohol that had seeped out of the corner of his mouth.The room was spinning, the darkness beyond the area he stood in all melding into one shapeless mass of shadows.

Then, suddenly, a creature loomed out of the darkness of the room.Cloud's mouth dropped open as he saw the red eyes, the long black hair, so black that it was almost blue…a monster!

As the creature sat down at the bar, Cloud's buzzing mind kicked into terrified mode.His heart leapt into his throat, and he started violently, letting out a small cry of fear and dropping the bottle onto the floor, where it shattered into a million pieces, clear liquid flowing like blood onto the hardwood floor.

Cloud stared blankly at the mess he had made, forgetting for the moment that he had just seen a "monster" in the room._Great, Tifa is gonna kill me…if she can tear herself away from Reno, of course._

"Cloud?" the creature suddenly asked, his voice breaking the silence.

"Hn?" Cloud grunted, tearing his bleary gaze away from the broken bottle and back to the creature that had scared the crap out of him."Vincent?!" he exclaimed, suddenly recognizing the red eyes and golden claw, which was resting contentedly on the bar countertop.

"Yes," Vincent replied calmly, watching as Cloud's Mako blue eyes strained to focus on him."I'm sorry.Did I frighten you?"

Forgetting about the mess he had made for a moment, Cloud put his hands on his hips and leaned against the refrigerator behind him, waiting for Vincent's figure to come into focus."Vincent," he said, voice slightly slurred."Coming from anyone else, that question would be called innocent, but since it's coming from you…"

"Then it's either malevolent or idiotic in nature," Vincent finished.

Cloud blinked dumbly."Huh?I didn't understand a single word you said, man." 

Vincent shook his head, raven hair detaching itself from the shadows around him so that it could frame his pale face."Never mind, Cloud.Do you need help cleaning that up?"

The younger man stared at Vincent for a while longer before shaking his spiky head wearily."No, I can do it myself."He grabbed a dishtowel from the rack by the sink and kneeled down to mop up the mess behind the counter while Vincent looked on.

"Be careful with the glass," the dark gunslinger warned, eyes watching Cloud's ungloved hands for any sign of unsteadiness."Don't cut yourself."

"I won't," Cloud muttered, and his voice was steadier this time, the insta-buzz he had received from the alcohol fading as his Jenova cell and Mako-enhanced bodily processes broke down the poison in his system.He finished cleaning up the broken bottle and wasted alcohol without any mishap and threw the shards in the trash, dishtowel and all.Vincent raised an eyebrow, wanting to ask whether or not Tifa wanted one of her good dishtowels carelessly thrown away, but once he saw the pained look on Cloud's face, the other man decided it would be inappropriate to ask at the moment.Instead, he watched as Cloud wiped his hands on his sweat pants, the only piece of clothing he had on, and turned to Vincent.

"What are you doing up?" he asked the dark man, not looking like he cared about the answer either way.

"Couldn't sleep," was Vincent's simple reply.

Cloud leaned against the countertop, elbows resting on the Formica."Oh," he said flatly."Me either."

Vincent let the silence hang in the air for a few more seconds before speaking."Would it be out of place to ask what is bothering you, Cloud?"

Something flickered in Cloud's blue eyes, but then they froze over in apathy and bitterness."Why should you ask?You don't care."

"You're right," Vincent answered just as flatly."Your problems are none of my concern, but it seems that whatever is bothering you at the moment is affecting your abilities as a leader, and I don't think you want that to continue." 

Cloud suddenly dropped his cold façade and sighed, all of his pain suddenly welling up in his soul like acid."I know," he muttered."I need to pull myself together.I'm afraid I behaved rather badly today.Sorry about that."

"There's no need to apologize to me.I sense the maelstrom within you.It is no big surprise that you let your emotions manipulate your actions."

Agonized sapphire eyes locked onto emotionless garnet ones."You know, Vincent," Cloud said wearily."Sometimes I don't know whether you're insulting me or not."

"All I was saying was that your actions were perfectly normal for your average, sentient, human being." 

"Oh.Thanks, I guess."Cloud looked away, never able to hold Vincent's gaze for long.There was just something about those fiery orbs that had always shaken him to the core, and for that reason he could never endure the naked intensity of Vincent's stare for a long period of time."Anyways," Cloud continued hastily, wondering if Vincent had noticed how quickly he had averted his eyes.He didn't want to insult his friend."Hopefully, I'll have my damn head screwed on straight by tomorrow.Now that you and Yuffie are back with us…"

Yuffie.The moment that name left Cloud lips, Vincent's thought processes seemed to freeze up.He suddenly recalled the horrific episode in the barn with grim clarity.He was ashamed of himself, leaving Yuffie there all alone without even so much as a goodbye or a goodnight.What unacceptable, impolite actions.Vincent hadn't been raised to mistreat women in such a fashion.He'd have to ask her forgiveness tomorrow, but he'd have to do it in such a fashion that she would not ask questions concerning his abrupt departure.Which meant he would probably have to give a coldly polite, seemingly insincere apology to discourage her from holding up conversation with him.Vincent was in no condition to explain his uncharacteristically ungentlemanly actions – even he didn't know what had came over him in the barn earlier.He had just gotten the sudden urge to get out the barn and away from the charming smile and disarming eyes of the young girl as quicky as possible, which was completely irrational.Yuffie was just a girl – more like a young woman, actually – but that was all she was.

_ _

_Yes,_ a voice in his mind suddenly sneered._She's a woman, and you're a man – and a lonely man, at that.Now it's only natural for a man and a woman…_

"Vincent!" Cloud suddenly called loudly.

The gunslinger blinked, realizing that he had completely zoned out of the conversation.If he had been more human, he would have blushed in embarrassment, but since he wasn't…

"Forgive me, Cloud," Vincent apologized immediately."What were you saying?"

Though he continued to look at Vincent strangely, Cloud responded, "I was saying that now you and Yuffie are back safe and sound, thank God, we can focus all our efforts on finding Reeve, wherever he may be."

"What you believe our next move should be?" Vincent asked.

Cloud drummed his long, tapered fingers on the countertop, looking a little bit more like the leader Vincent knew him to be."Though it may sound crazy, I think we should head back to Midgar and search there again."

"But didn't Red and Turks already investigate, with Red on the ground and the Turks in the air?"

Cloud leaned easily against the counter, eyes shrewd as he thought out the situation."Yeah, but they came up with nothing.Red could pick up no scents outside 

Reeve's office, and the Turks, though they were in the air, really didn't have the chance to go through all of Midgar as thoroughly as I would have liked.On the other hand, if we all went and investigated Midgar together, not leaving an inch of it untouched, I think we might have a better idea as to what happened to Reeve.We might want to search the surrounding areas as well, though I really don't see much need to, being that we are now certain the Running Man escaped on the 'ghost' ship."He glanced at Vincent with a strange breed of childish hope flickering in his eyes."Do you think that is a good plan?"

Vincent shrugged."It's all we have to go on, but I have one question: If the Running Man did abduct Reeve from his office, as Reno said, why couldn't Red find his scent?"

Cloud looked his friend square in the eyes, easily locking onto the slightly luminescent red orbs in the darkness."We thought it was because the Running Man wasn't a normal human being."

Vincent's brows drew together, and he folded his arms across his chest."I wouldn't doubt it," he deadpanned."If the Running Man is from the same people that employed or created the Faceless Men, then I certainly wouldn't be surprised to find that the Running Man isn't human at all."He paused briefly."In fact, now that I think about it and remember what little I saw of our quarry, the more certain I am that he isn't human in the slightest."

Cloud blinked in surprise; Vincent rarely ever made such bold statements."What makes you say that?"

"The man moved with unnatural grace," Vincent responded without looking at Cloud."His movements were fluid and unnaturally agile, and I received strange vibes from him, you might say.I didn't want to mention it at the time because I thought I was imagining things, and I didn't want to frighten Yuffie anymore than she already was."

Cloud frowned upon hearing this."Yuffie was frightened?Was she in the way, then?"

Vincent's eyes locked onto his, and his voice suddenly became cold."No, she was not in the way.Besides, it wasn't her fault…"

Vincent stopped, immediately wishing he could retract his words.He couldn't tell Cloud about Yuffie's irrational terror without telling him about the way Chaos had been behaving during their time spent in the deep-sea complex.But Cloud was the leader; he certainly needed to know if one of his friends would be a danger to the others.Of course, Vincent wouldn't have to worry about anything if he were just to leave…

"Vincent?" Cloud asked, noticing that his friend had drifted off again."What wasn't Yuffie's fault?"

The other man snapped out of his stupor and stared at Cloud for so long that he became to get severely uncomfortable.He wondered if Vincent knew just how intimidating he really was?The red eyes, the pale skin, and the black hair all made for a very unsettling person to have staring at you.He was just about to ask what was wrong when Vincent suddenly spoke again.

"Never mind," he said softly but firmly."I'll tell you later."

_ _

_If I'm still here,_ he added silently.

Cloud repressed his curiosity and nodded.They knew that Vincent kept certain things to himself, and he had no other choice but to respect the other man's privacy, knowing that Vincent didn't react very well to overly nosy people."Then," Cloud said."We're going to Midgar together in the morning after a brief meeting here to discuss the groups." 

_ _

_And I'm going to make sure that Tifa and Reno are separated,_ he thought as Vincent nodded silently._I need time to sort out my feelings without having to worry about what they're doing.It may sound selfish, but if I want to be operating with a sound mind, this is how it must be.Sorry, Tifa.Sorry, Reno._

"Well, I'm going to bed," Cloud said, moving away from the countertop and turning towards the stairs."You going to sleep again?" he asked Vincent.

"No," he said simply, spinning around in the stool and walking into the darkness towards the front windows, a phantom in the gloom.Cloud could see the shape of his shoulders and head silhouetted against the rain-ravaged windowpanes through which light from the street lamps filtered in, as if seeking refuge from the terrible night that they strove so hard to pierce.

"Okay," he said quietly, knowing better than to second-guess Vincent.He started to walk to the stairs again, but halfway there, he stopped and said, "And Vincent?"

"Hn?" the other man responded without turning.He seemed to be watching the night.

Cloud shifted uncomfortably, not sure what to say. He didn't want to upset his friend after the gunslinger had unconsciously talked a little bit of sense back into him.

"If you ever, you know, want to tell me what _really_ happened in that deep sea complex, I'll be ready to listen."

Vincent didn't move or relpy, and after waiting for a few moments for an answer that he knew would never come, Cloud resumed his walk back to the stairs, disappearing up them and leaving Vincent alone in the darkness.

* * * * * * * * * *

_Author's Note:Whew…sorry it took so long!I had to deal with midterms, deadlines, and a severe Gundam Wing obsession (I love Duo!!).^_^Thanks to everyone who is still reading and sending me feedback on this story!I really appreciate it!Those reviews and e-mails are what keeps me going! You guys rock!!Now, to go and FINISH that Resident Evil series…hopefully…_

_ _

e-mail [catalina2717@go.com][1]

   [1]: mailto:catalina2717@go.com



	17. All Roads Lead to Midgar

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Seventeen**

**_ _**

**_All Roads Lead to Midgar_**

_"I just can't believe this shit!"Cid Highwind_

_ _

Cid Highwind's deep blue eyes were as thunderous and stormy as the ocean as he stood underneath the wing of the Tiny Bronco, covered from head to toe in a black rain slicker, complete with dark boots over his already booted feet.A cigarette dangled from his thin lips, the lighted tip of it the only thing that lent illumination to the shadow cast by his plastic hood.The light danced over his cheekbones, set high in his almost haggard face, creating hollows of inky shadows beneath the strong bones.It also lent an orangish-yellow illumination to his deep blue eyes, making them look like they were smoldering with fire in the literal sense as well as the figurative.

"Bastard," he suddenly mumbled, cigarette dancing on his thin lips as he spoke.A bit of ash floated down to sand beneath his feet.

Barret turned to glare at him."You talkin' to me, foo?"

Cid blinked at his companion."Naw."

Barret snorted and turned away again, the movement of his head unsettling the stubborn raindrops still clinging to the hood of his slicker."You talkin' to yerself, then?" 

"No," Cid growled, blowing smoke out of his nostrils in annoyance."I just can't believe this shit!"

"I hear ya," Barret echoed grumpily, shifting his weight from foot to foot.The man was so tall he had to crouch slightly to fit under the wing of the Tiny Bronco.

"I mean," Cid continued to rant."We busted our asses yesterday, climbing the mountains, riding the waves, to get to that cave to look for that _damn ship_, and the @#$&ing thing ends up on the beach!"

And sure enough, fifty feet away from where Cid and Barret were standing miserably underneath the wing of the Tiny Bronco, the "ghost ship" that had very un-ghostlike qualities was sitting on the beach with a certain smugness that seemed directed at the two men.Everything about the ship from its broken mast to the rotted boards of its hull appeared to gloat at Cid and Barret, teasing them about the hard work they had endured the day before, belittling their actions and making fun of their anger._Look at me,_ it seemed to say._I'm made of rotting, termite-filled wood held together by rusty nails, and I outsmarted you!Hahahahahaha!_

Cid spat at the sand."Goddamn hunk of crap," he cursed.

"Well, getting your panties in a twist about it ain't gonna make all our hard work worthwhile, ya know," Barret grumbled, striving to be the sensible one now that Cid was all huffy and puffy over a stupid ship.

Cid crossed his arms over his chest and cursed softly when his cigarette was almost extinguished by the water sitting on his sleeve."Shut up," he told his companion."I had a feeling something like this was gonna happen."

"Then why the hell did ya drag me out here this morning?" Barret growled, adjusted his way-too-small slicker with his normal arm."I'm cold, I'm wet, and this damn slicker thang smells like booty!"

"Probably 'cause I gave you the one that was kept outside by the septic tank," Cid said, calmly puffing on his cigarette.

Barret turned an amusing shade of green and whirled on his companion, glaring down at the smaller man."Foo, you'd best be joking or I'm gonna bust a cap in your ass!I did attach my gun-arm this mornin' ya know!"

Cid grinned."I can see that.I ain't blind.I was just joking, anyways."

"Best be," Barret grumbled, folding his arms across his chest, a little peeved that his companion had managed to make him loose his cool with one off-the-wall comment.He had promised Marlene that he was going to work on keeping his temper in check, and goddamn it, he was gonna try his hardest!

Then Cid went and ruined it."I gave you the one I found in my chocobo's pen."

Barret blew his cool again."What?!The hell you put a coat in the chocobo's pen anyways, foo?!"

Cid scowled and blew smoke out of his nostrils."He didn't have no hay!Didn't want the poor bird-brain to have nothing to lay on!Are you gonna shoot me for being nice to my chocobo?"

"You ain't nice to your bird, Cid!You didn't even feed him yesterday!"

"Did too!I fed him in the morning!"

"Yeah, well, I fed him again in the evening, seeing that you didn't do it!"

"You ain't supposed to feed chocobos that much food!Now he's gonna get fat!"

Barret's scowl deepened."You supposed to feed chocobos two times a day!Two, foo!"He held up two fingers of his normal hand.

Cid's mouth fell open, but he managed to keep an expert grip on his cigarette."You shittin' me?" he demanded of his tall companion."I didn't know that."

Barret threw his arms up in exasperation."No wonder the damn bird is always eating my birdie's food!"

"Birdie?" Cid repeated, then burst out laughing.

Barret flushed and made another mean face at his amused friend."Shu'up, foo!That's what my little girl calls 'em!"

Cid continued laughing, clutching his sides in mirth.

Barret folded his arms across his chest again, offended."I give up on you, Cid!Ya need serious help or somethin'!Now what was we talkin' 'bout before?"

"Where I got your coat from," Cid managed to say through his snickering.

"Before that, foo!"

Cid gave it some thought after he finished his laughing fit."Hmmm.Oh yeah!We was talking about how @#%$ing stupid it was for us to be out here in the rain, all wet and cold, just staring at a stupid ship on the beach!"He pointed to the "ghost" ship sitting on the shore to prove his point.The rotting thing stared back as if to say, "Who me?"

"If it's so stupid," Barret grumbled."Then why did ya drag me out here?Yeah!That's what I was askin'!"

Cid shrugged."You were the only one awake and dumb enough to come with me."

Barret gritted his teeth and counted to ten (just like Marlene told him to do) before he trusted himself to answer Cid."Let's go back to the bar, foo.I'm done standing out here admiring this old hunk of crap.The brat Yuffie was right; it sure is one ugly son of a jackal."

Cid snickered at Barret's euphemism, but made no move to restart the Tiny Bronco.Instead he said, "You think Cloud will have his head screwed on straight and right side up when we get back?"

"He'd better," Barret growled, eyes still on the falling rain."Or someone else is gonna have to take command."He glanced at Cid."Be ready, foo.We probably nominate you."

Cid chewed on that for a while, then shook his head."Naw.You know there ain't nothing that can keep Spike down for long.I think he's gonna be just fine by the time we get back.I believe in the kid!"

Barret scowled down at his friend, offended."So do I!Don't talk like I ain't got no faith in the spikey-headed idiot!'Sides, probably ain't his fault, what happened yesterday.It's that goddamn Reno!"

Cid snorted in distaste, smoke exiting his nose in two funnels as he did so."That @#$%ing Turk," he snarled."Trouble follows him wherever he goes."

"I can't believe we has to work wit 'em," Barret mumbled.

"It's only for a little while," Cid said."He's good in a battle, and them Turks are friends of that damn cat so I guess they can't be that bad once you really, really, really, think about it."

"That's a lot of 'reallys', man.I don't think I can think that hard."

Cid ignored him."Now, Rude and even that loud-mouthed Elena ain't bad at all.Rude don't say much, and Elena usually don't put up too much of a fight about our decisions because she so insecure about herself.It's just that Reno that I think is gonna give us problems."He looked up at Barret from under the shadow of his hood."What you think?"

Barret shook his head with sudden weariness."I ain't in no mood to be thinkin' right now.I just want to find Reeve and get this whole damn thing over with.I have a daughter to raise and take care of.She's gonna be going to school soon, ya know."

Cid nodded silently.He knew that Barret probably loved his little girl more than anything on the face of the Planet.Probably more than the Planet itself.But Barret's love for his daughter was something Cid could understand.He loved his wife, Shera in such a fashion.All that stuff about fighting for the Planet was all just a load of crap, to put it in a not-so-nice way.Cid was fighting for Shera.Everything he did, he did with his wife's well being in mind.Sometimes, he was surprised at how much he had changed in only one year, and he had Shera and AVALANCHE to thank for it.It may have taken him years and years to realize just where his heart belonged, but now that he did know, he couldn't have been happier.

"I can understand, you know," Cid suddenly told Barret."About Marlene and all."

Barret glanced at him thoughtfully."I know ya can.You probably the only one that can, once ya really think about it."

Cid grinned up at his large companion again."I thought you said you wasn't in the mood for thinkin'?"

With a frustrated cry, Barret threw his hands up in the air again.He could tell it was going to be hell of a long day.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tifa sighed as she pulled the shoelaces tight on her fighter's boots, double knotting them like she always did so they wouldn't come loose in the middle of battle.She hadn't gotten much sleep last night, and she knew that her lack of rest was seriously going to be weighing her down today if they got into any skirmishes.She hadn't been in a serious, life-threatening battle in months, and the fact that she had tossed and turned all night worrying about Cloud, Reno, and Reeve wasn't going to help her situation at all.Too much to worry about and so many things to do.

_ _

_Might as well just give up on having a normal life,_ she thought glumly, pulling on her Premium Heart fighter gloves.

There was suddenly a knock at her door, and Tifa's heart jumped slightly when she considered that it might be Cloud.He hadn't spoken to her all day yesterday, not that she had given him much of a chance, though.From the barn, she had gone straight upstairs and barricaded herself in her room, and she had spent the whole afternoon trying to watch TV and ignore the fact that Cloud was locked up in his room only two doors down.She had thought she had heard him talking to someone in the bar late last night, but the thunder had been too loud and she had given up on listening.Probably just a figment of her imagination, birthed from her wishful thinking and longing for Cloud.

"Tifa?" a voice suddenly called through the door, and the young brunette realized that she had spaced out.

"Yuffie?" Tifa asked, recognizing the voice.

"Yup, it's me.Can I come in?"

Tifa tried her best not to sound gloomy."Sure!Come in."

The door opened, and a very sleepy-looking Yuffie Kisaragi trudged into the room with her feet dragging and her eyes drooping.The young girl offered her older friend a half-hearted wave with the ghost of her normal spunkiness.Then she practically collapsed on Tifa's bed, rumpling the sheets and almost sending Tifa bouncing to the floor.

"Are you okay, Yuffie?" Tifa asked with concern flickering in her burgundy eyes."You look absolutely exhausted."

"I am," Yuffie mumbled, opening one eye to glance at her friend.There were red veins around the stormy gray iris."I didn't get any sleep last night."

"Bad dreams?" Tifa asked sympathetically, smoothing back some of her young friend's chocolate brown hair.

Yuffie nodded miserably, closing her eyes again."Horrible nightmares.The only sleep I got was when I dozed off taking a shower this morning.It totally sucked.I almost drowned!"

Tifa laughed softly."Poor Yuffie.Are my clothes still working out for you?"

Yuffie nodded, absently adjusting one of the straps of her sleeveless tank top."Yeah, but I was sort of hoping that my boobs would miraculously grow to fill out the shirt overnight, but no such luck.Darn."

Tifa laughed again."And the shorts?Those are practically the only pair I had that were small enough to fit you."

Yuffie nodded sleepily."They keep slipping, but that's okay.I like them loose."She yawned widely."So tired…"

"You don't have to come with us today if you don't want to," Tifa suggested, getting off the bed and adjusting her suspenders absent-mindedly.

"No!" Yuffie exclaimed suddenly, rising up to a sitting position."I'm definitely going with you guys!I've been out of action for too long, and I'm not going to miss out on any more of it!"

Tifa raised her hands in mock surrender, a bit surprised at her friend's vehemence."Hey, hey, calm down, Yuffie.It was just a suggestion.Besides, you and Vincent have been experiencing most of the action lately, fighting with those Faceless Men or whatever they were called.All we were doing was sitting around worrying about you two."

"Vincent," Yuffie muttered under her breath, eyes spacing out for a second before coming back into focus."Is Vincent awake yet?" she suddenly asked.

Tifa blinked."I think so.You never know with that man.I heard Cid and Barret tripping over stuff earlier this morning so I know they're up.As for all the others, I have no earthly idea."

Yuffie made a half-hearted effort to stifle a yawn."What are we going to do today?Did Cloud say anything important that I might have missed?"

Tifa winced inwardly at the mention of Cloud's name."No, he didn't say anything else, but I figure we're going to do something today now that we're all together again.Let's just go downstairs and see who's up."

Yuffie nodded dully, her eyes half-shut.That didn't stop Tifa from seeing the spark of humor that suddenly twinkled in their iron gray depths.She lifted her hands towards Tifa."You might have to carry me down the stairs, Tifa.I'd fall and crack my head open otherwise and Cloud would have to mop it up."

Tifa laughed and tugged Yuffie to her feet."That makes two of us, you know.This is going to be like the blind leading the blind."

* * * * * * * * * *

Cloud drummed his fingers absent-mindedly on the table and stared at his two friends that were sitting across from him."You guys have got to be kidding me?" he muttered under his breath.

Barret heard him, however, and snorted at the young man's lack of confidence."You want to go out there in the rain in that damn broke plane and take a look for yerself, Spike?We tellin' you the truth, boy!That ship jes be sittin' there on the beach, all old and rotten like!"

Cloud sighed and rubbed his face with his hands, letting the rough texture of his gloves grind against his skin.He relished that dull pain."I know, Barret.I wasn't calling you guys liars.I just didn't think we'd ever see that damn thing again, that's all."

Cid blew a cloud of smoke towards the ceiling. "You and me both, kid."

Cloud allowed a silence to descend on the almost deserted bar as he fought to gather his thoughts.After he had left Vincent alone in the darkness the night before, he had returned to his room and had actually managed to get a couple of hours of sleep before waking up at the buttcrack of dawn that morning.Cloud had no idea whether the alcohol lingering in his system or talking with Vincent had eased his mind enough to sleep, but whatever had done it, he was eternally grateful for.For some reason, talking with the dark gunslinger had always served as a sort of balm to his nerves.It wasn't that Vincent's presence was comforting or anything like that.No, nothing so simple.It was kind of sad actually.Whenever Cloud looked at or spoke with Vincent, he was always thinking in the back of his mind, "Wow, all my stupid-ass problems are nothing compared to the hell this guy has gone through.I got off lucky with just fractured memories and glowing Mako eyes.Look at his guy!Damn, to think I could have ended up like this!Whew!"

Sad, and mean as hell, but it was heartbreakingly true.Cloud was happy he hadn't ended up like Vincent, so cold and callous, leaving even his friends to wonder if there was a heart behind those ruby-red eyes of his.But he hated thinking like that, especially when Vincent was around.He was always afraid that those piercing garnet eyes would suddenly turn their soul-searching beams on him and dissect his every thought, exposing the darkest corners of his mind to a man that was practically darkness given shape and form.

Hell, maybe Cloud felt better after talking with Vincent because deep down he thought that Vincent was the only one that could understand him.In any case, Cloud had actually gotten some sleep last night before he had roused himself from his bed to once again sheathe himself in the guise of a leader – a mixed up kid ready to lead his friends and enemies alike onto the battlefield.That's all he really was, after all.

Cid and Barret, however, had beaten him in the race to be the earliest riser.Cloud had heard the two older men down in the front room while he was getting ready.From the sound of it, they had been tripping and stumbling over chairs in the darkness, and cursing loud enough to wake the dead.Cid and Barret were definitely not the most graceful or soft-voiced men in the world, and that was for damn sure.

After trying to catch them before they left and failing, Cloud had spent about ten minutes standing in front of Tifa's door, wondering if he should knock and try and smooth things over there and then.In the end, however, his weak, prideful heart had failed him, and he had gone downstairs to stare at the rain and wonder why Cid and Barret would be taking the Tiny Bronco out so early in the morning.

But the news they had brought back with them was definitely worth the trip, in Cloud's opinion.

_ _

_So the ghost ship is beached on the shore near Midgar,_ he thought, brow creasing as he sought to derive something useful from the piece of information._According to Vincent and Yuffie's story, the thing was out on some deep-sea complex the night before last.And we know it wasn't there yesterday morning because we would have seen it when we went to investigate the cave.I know the seas are all turbulent right now, but could it have really drifted all this way in less than a day?My instincts tell me no, unless of course…that's it!_

Barret raised an eyebrow when he saw the look on Cloud's face become dangerously contemplative."Whatcha thinkin' 'bout, Spike?"

A short, mirthless laugh emerged from Cloud's throat."Something bad.But let me ask you guys something: do you think the ship just kind of floated over to the beach, or did someone pilot it there?"

Cid's eyes widened when he realized just what Cloud was getting at."The Running Man!He might have been on the ship – that's what you sayin' right, kid?"

Cloud nodded, some unruly strands of blond hair flopping into his face."Yeah, and did you notice how close that shore is to Midgar?"

Barret caught on immediately."You think the Running Man is in Midgar right now, then?"

Cloud's mood was becoming grimmer by the minute."Yeah, and that is exactly where I was planning on heading today."

"Why do you look so sad?" Cid demanded."If he's there in Midgar, we'll be able to find that bastard and finally get information out of him!This is a good thing, I'm telling ya!"

"I suppose so," Cloud muttered, still unnerved by the idea that the Running Man had somehow predicted their next course of action.That could only mean one thing: there was a spy.But he didn't know who it could be, so he didn't want to be making any premature accusations.Of course, the Running Man could have been heading to Midgar just by coincidence.Maybe he had left some unfinished business behind.But either way, Cloud wasn't at all comfortable with the fact that the man who had kidnapped his friend was going to be running around the same place as they were.And they were going to all split up, making it easier to target one group at a time.He had to protect Tifa…

Just then the center figure in his thoughts – in his life – came walking down the stairs dragging an exhausted-looking Yuffie by the arm."Good morning, everyone," Tifa said cheerfully as she guided Yuffie over to the table and dumped her in the seat next to Cloud.The young ninja immediately swayed to the side, her head landing heavily on Cloud's shoulder, chocolate brown strands tickling his bare skin.Though he wasn't too happy about all the extra weight, Cloud hadn't the heart to shove her away.Besides, he was too busy fretting over the fact that Tifa hadn't looked at him once.

Cloud's preoccupied thoughts were interrupted when the door suddenly flew open, and Red XIII bounded in, soaking wet and severely unhappy.Reno, Rude, and Elena came running in right after him, equally displeased and dripping water onto the floor.After Reno and Cloud's big blowout yesterday, the Turks had decided to stay at the hotel instead of at the bar, which was sort of pointless, being that the hotel was right next to the Final Heaven bar.Not trusting himself to go and wake them up in order to assemble for their next operation, Cloud had sent Red to go fetch them from the hotel.That had been an hour ago, and from the looks of it, it appeared as if they had had some…difficulties along the way.

Cid took one look at the waterlogged foursome and grinned wolfishly."Hey guys, is it still raining outside?"

"Shut up!" Elena snapped, wiping at her mascara, which was running…again.

A look of fatherly disapproval appeared on Barret's dark face when he saw the huge puddle of water on the floor."The hell did you guys do?Swim all the way over here?" 

"Practically," Red replied dryly, shaking raindrops from his coat and splattering the walls – and Reno – with water. 

"Goddamn it, Red!" Reno cried, stepping away from the lion-like beast as if Red had suddenly grown another head."Did you have to do that when you're right next to me?!" 

Elena ignored her companion and addressed everyone else in the bar."Actually, Red _did_ have to doggypaddle over here.The water out there is rising!"

"Serves you guys right for staying at the hotel!" Yuffie interjected cheerfully, apparently ignoring her own exhaustion long enough to taunt their ex-enemies."What – do you think we have cooties or something?"

"Is it really that bad?" Tifa asked worriedly, rushing up to the Turks with three towels in her slender arms.

"Red had to swim through the deeper parts, like Elena said," Rude answered as he took a towel and wiped his face."Thank you, Tifa."

"You're welcome," Tifa said politely as she handed a towel to a miserable and pouty-faced Elena, who only grumbled her gratitude.Tifa didn't seem to notice, however, as she focused all her attention on avoiding Reno's gaze as she handed him his towel.

"Thanks, Tifa," Reno said clearly, trying to get her to make eye contact with him.

"You're welcome," she muttered almost inaudibly as she knelt to help Red get his waterlogged mane out of his eyes.Basically, doing anything to give her an excuse to avoid Reno's eyes.She did a very good job of it, but both Reno and Cloud weren't fooled.Reno snorted his annoyance before attacking his wild hair with the towel.Cloud just stared, trying to unravel the physics behind the love triangle he had somehow gotten caught up in.

"So, is everyone here now?" Cid asked, noticing that Cloud was zoning again.He wished the kid would stop doing that…

Yuffie looked around, her loose hair brushing the sides of her face."Vinnie's not here yet, is he?"

"Right here," a shadow near the stairway suddenly said.

Yuffie whirled with a gasp as the others looked on in surprise, watching Vincent's figure discard its cloak of shadows and walk into the light.He was still wearing his borrowed clothes, but he had gathered his glorious hair in loose ponytail, which was cinched with an elastic band below the nape of his neck."Are we moving out yet?" he asked flatly.

Reno took the towel away from his face and glared at everyone in the room as if they had done something to wrong him."Moving out?" he echoed suspiciously."I didn't hear anything about moving out."

_ _

_God,_ Cloud thought in annoyance._He's already being problematic.Keep cool, Strife, keep cool.Don't get angry._

"Barret and Cid found the ghost ship," he said clearly, keeping his eyes trained on the three Turks.They didn't say anything so he continued, "It was abandoned on the beach near the city of Midgar."

Elena blinked."So?"

"We thinkin' that the Running Man is in Midgar," Barret responded impatiently.

"Really?" Yuffie asked, wide-awake now as she recalled the dark figure she and Vincent had just barely glimpsed a couple of nights before."Then what are we waiting for?Let's go!"

"Not so fast," Cloud warned, before his young friend could get too excited."The Running Man isn't the main objective of this trip."

"What do ya mean?" Reno demanded, flinging his damp towel onto a nearby chair."If he's the one that took Reeve, then he sure as hell is the main objective right now!"

Vincent suddenly spoke up, his deep, cold voice silencing any fiery protests that may have been hovering on Reno's tongue."Just because this Running Man took Reeve doesn't necessarily mean that he knows where he is right now.Remember, the Running Man boarded that ship alone when Yuffie and I were on it.He didn't have Reeve with him when he sailed to the deep-sea complex.It's possible that he turned Reeve over to a different group of people before he boarded the ship."

"You mean he's some kind of bounty hunter?" Tifa asked.

Vincent nodded wordlessly.

Cloud picked up, grateful that Vincent had taken up the task of explaining.Cloud wasn't sure if he could have sounded even half as eloquent or logical."And that's why he's not the main objective of this mission.But he's still a very dangerous factor so I want everyone to be careful.Watch out for him."

"What exactly will we be doing in Midgar, then?" Red asked from his seat on the floor, tail swishing back and forth placidly.

"We're gonna turn that place inside out," Cloud said in a hard, determined voice."We're going to split into teams and search every inch of that place until we're sure that Reeve isn't being held right under our noses.That's the objective of his mission."

"Midgar's a big place, man," Barret warned.

Cloud nodded."That's why we're splitting up."

"And I'll bet anything that you're choosing the teams," Reno sneered, eyes glittering maliciously.

Cloud's glare was icy."Yes," he said flatly."I will be."Before Reno could start bitching again, Cloud went on, "I am going to be investigating the remains of Hojo's lab.I'm taking Tifa with me…"

"Figures," Reno muttered.

"And Rude," Cloud finished.

"WHAT?!" Reno exploded, the look in his eyes turning positively dangerous in an instant."No way!Turks stick together!You ain't separating us!No way!"

"You can't take Rude away from us!" Elena protested."We work best as a team!"

_ _

_And there is no way I'm letting him go anywhere that Tifa Lockheart is going,_ she added silently.

"I have no problem with Cloud's decision," Rude suddenly said.

"WHAT?!!!" Reno and Elena both demanded, whirling on their friend and colleague, wondering what had gotten into him.

"I understand if you don't trust us yet," Rude said calmly, directing his words at Cloud."I'll go with you and help you in any way I can."

Cloud nodded, grateful that Rude hadn't put up a fight."Thanks."

But Reno still wasn't finished yet."Wait a minute!You're taking Rude with you as some kind of security blanket so we won't turn on you?!That's dirty, Strife!Using people like that!"

"Don't talk to me about using people, Reno," Cloud counterattacked in a flat, cold voice."And if you have to know, the primary reason I'm taking Rude with us is because he's the one who saw the Running Man sneaking around Hojo's lab.Remember?He'd be of great help to us."

"Fine!" Reno declared, teeth gritted in anger."But why are you taking Tifa, then?Tell me that, Strife!"

"Because I want to be with her," Cloud said simply, carefully hiding the longing in his voice.

Tifa lowered her head, feeling tears sting her eyes._Please, everyone, stop it,_ she pleaded silently._This hurts so much…_

"You mean you don't want _me_ to be with her," Reno sneered.

"Can we please get back to discussing the mission," Red interrupted with a growl, noticing Tifa's state of distress."I see no need to take this battle to a personal level."

"Red's right," Cid interjected, glaring at the still-smoldering Reno."The first team is decided.Go on, kid."

Cloud fought to get his emotions under control."Cid and Barret – you guys are going to go the former Shinra headquarters."

Barret blinked."That dump?Why?"

_ _

_Goddamn,_ Cloud thought._Is everyone going to be interrupting me after every other sentence?_

But instead of snapping at his friend, Cloud said patiently, "You are going to reactivate Cait Sith."

Cid's eyes widened."That damn cat?Why?"

"We're going to need all the help we can get," Cloud answered."Wasn't Reeve saying that he had finished with all the adjustments he needed for Cait Sith to work on his own?"

Surprisingly, it was Elena who answered him."Yeah.He came down to the office one day to tell us about it.He said that he had given Cait the same personality that he had had when he was traveling with you all.Only now Cait can work on his own without too much help from Reeve."She smiled, and her voice became sad all of sudden."He was really excited about it.Poor Reeve."

Reno put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her gently, surprising everyone.

Cloud nodded at Elena, acknowledging her answer and sympathizing with her pain in one gesture.Then he turned back to Cid and Barret."Cid, you know how to work Cait, right?Didn't Reeve show you one day?"

Cid puffed thoughtfully on his cigarette."Yeah, I think I remember.And even if I didn't, it shouldn't be to hard to figure out."

"Leave to us, boy-ee!" Barret said amiably.

Cloud grinned at him, then turned reluctantly to the task of telling Reno what he needed to do."Reno, you and Elena are going to investigate all the underground tunnels in Midgar, and see if there is any way at all that the Running Man could be using them to get from place to place.And yes, that includes the sewers.It may take a while, but do the best you can, okay?I figure you two know Midgar pretty well."

Reno rolled his eyes."You mean you figure a worthless slum kid like me should know the sewers well."

Cloud ignored him."Take Red with you.He can't smell anything in the rain anyways."

_ _

_Please don't give me hard time on this one,_ he begged silently._I'm not in the mood._

Everyone in the bar waited.

Reno and Elena blinked.Red blinked.Reno and Elena stared at each other.Then they stared at Red, who stared back at them.Elena and Red stared at each other.Then they both stared at Reno, waiting for him to start bitching.

But all he said was, "Cool."

Everyone in the bar breathed a sigh of relief.

Then Yuffie grumbled, "Something tells me I'm with Vinnie again."

Cloud nodded, turning in his seat so that he could see both of them at the same time."You two are going to Reeve's office and see if there is anything else that we might have missed the first time.And watch out for the Running Man.I have this feeling that he might be returning there."

"How come I have to be with Vinnie again?" Yuffie whined.

_ _

_He's probably tired of me,_ she thought sadly._I don't want to bother him with my annoying presence anymore._

Cloud stared at her."Fine.You want to go with Cid and Barret then?"

Yuffie glanced warily at the two older men sitting across from her on the table.Cid was blowing smoke out of his nostrils.Barret was scratching his armpit."Um," she floundered."No thanks.I'll go with Vinnie."

Cloud looked at the dark man standing close to the shadows."That okay with you, Vincent?"

The man nodded silently.

Cloud nodded, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders."Okay," he said."The teams are decided.Now, how are we going to get to Midgar?"

Immediately, he regretted his words.Everyone started talking at once.

Elena:"Let's take the Highwind!"

Cid:"You can't fly the Highwind in a thunderstorm!"

Yuffie:"Let's take the Tiny Bronco!"

Reno:"We don't all fit in the Tiny Bronco!"

Cid:"You can't drive the Bronco on land!Only in the water!"

Elena:"Besides, it's broken…"

Reno:"…and ugly."

Cid:"Don't diss my plane!"

Red:"As long as I don't have to walk…"

Barret:"Let's take the chocobos."

Yuffie:"In the rain???"

Barret:"You got a better idea?"

Reno:"I'm flying the helicopter!"

Cid:"Yeah, and I'll be laughing my ass off when you get struck by lightening and die!"

Barret:"You said it, foo!I be laughin' now!Hehehehehe!"

Cloud soon got fed up.He'd have much rather preferred listening to voices of Jenova and Sephiroth living in his head than all this silly arguing."Everyone, shut up!" he roared.The talking died off."We're taking the buggy," Cloud seethed, the look in his eyes leaving no room for arguments."Two people in the front with the driver.The other six doubled up in the back with Red across their laps."

Silence as everyone chewed on that, then Yuffie asked innocently, "So…who's driving?"

Reno:"Oh! Mememememe!"

Elena:"No, don't let Reno drive!"

Reno:"Why the hell not?!"

Elena:"He doesn't have a license!"

Rude:"I think I should drive…"

Reno:"Sure as hell I have a license!"

Yuffie:"Let Red drive!"

Elena:"That license is fake!"

Tifa:"Red????"

Reno:"Is not!"

Barret:"I'm not sittin' in no guy's lap!"

Elena:"Is too!"

Cid:"Whatever you do don't let Yuffie behind the wheel!"

Reno:"Is not!"

Yuffie:"I'll take that as a indication my expert driving makes you jealous."

Elena:"Is too!"

Cid:"Expert drivin' my—"

That's when Cloud rose from his chair and grabbed the keys from their hook and started walking towards the garage.Everyone followed silently.

When they reached the garage a couple of minutes later, Cloud flipped on the lights to reveal the buggy sitting peacefully in the middle of the floor, red surface gleaming in the electric lights.It was totally oblivious that it was about to become the source of a major battle.

"Shotgun!" Cid and Reno cried at the same time, racing to the car as Cloud rolled his eyes.

"Door seat!" Cid yelled, flinging open the car door and plopping himself down in the passenger seat.

Reno glared at him."Move, old man!"

"@#$% off!" Cid said cheerfully.

"That's not fair!" Reno whined, scowling down at the pilot."You got in first so move over!"

"Quit your bitchin'," Cid growled.

Reno's eyes suddenly gleamed mischievously."Fine, but I'm gonna have to climb over you."

Cid narrowed his eyes suspiciously, making it apparent that he thought Reno had something up his sleeve, but he still wouldn't relinquish his seat."Go ahead, Turk, knock yourself out."

So Reno climbed over Cid, making sure to step on his feet, sit on his hands, hit him in the face, elbow him in the chest, crush his legs, and knee him in the groin as he did so.

"Sorry, my nightstick slipped," Reno apologized profusely as Cid cursed and clutched himself in pain.Reno was grinning from ear to ear, quite pleased with himself._Damn, I'm good,_ he thought.

"Move over, asswipe," Cid wheezed."You're crowdin' me!"

"Fine," Reno grumbled, but when he tried to move over, Cloud chose that moment to sit down in the driver's seat.

"Ew!Strife, get out of my lap!"

"Hey!I'm the one who is driving!Move over!"

While Cloud, Cid, and Reno were fighting over the front seat, the others were trying to find a way to fit into the backseat without having legs and arms sticking out of the windows.

"Okay," Barret said, taking control."Three guys, three girls, and…Red.The guys get in first, and then the girls sit in they laps, and then Red climbs in, awright?Ya'll got that all down?"

"Wow, Barret, you're a genius," Yuffie said sarcastically."I never could have thought of all that."

"I know," Barret said as they opened the car door and started to file in.But they seemed to take forever, and soon Yuffie got tired of waiting around with nothing to do but fidget and stare at everyone's butts as they went in.So to speed things up, she ran around the car to the other side, and opened the door.

Vincent stared up at her.Yuffie stared back.

_ _

_Great,_ she thought nervously._It had to be him.I don't want to sit in his lap because…I'm afraid I'll like it.God, I bet I'm blushing!_

"Watch out, Vinnie!" she said as casually as possible, plopping down into Vincent's lap as he watched without a flicker of emotion.But the scent of clean skin and herbal shampoo drifted to his nose, and he found himself inhaling as deeply as he could without making it obvious.

"Vincent, your legs are bony," Yuffie commented suddenly, trying to get comfortable.She was so nervous!

"Your butt is bony," Vincent muttered before he could stop himself.

Yuffie pinched him on his human arm, the only piece of his anatomy that she could cause damage to at the moment."I can't believe you just told me that, Vinnie!You don't tell girls their butts are bony!Apologize immediately!"

"I'm sorry, Yuffie," he said as sincerely as he could manage, and he really was sorry.

"You're supposed to argue with me, Vinnie!" Yuffie said in a scolding tone."It's more fun that way."

Vincent didn't bother to reply.Instead, he wisely moved his human hand out of the way before Rude could sit on it.Wouldn't help to lose his other hand, now would it?

After Rude had gotten in, Barret crowded in his beefy bulk next to Rude; consequently, Vincent and Yuffie in his lap were shoved up against the door."Hey!" Yuffie cried."Watch it people!We _are_ sitting over here, you know!"

"How could we forget wit all that damn noise you be makin'!" Barret snapped as Tifa, then Elena, climbed into the car, hunched over as they searched for a lap to sit in.

Tifa found herself staring right into Rude's sunglasses._Oh well, _she thought reluctantly._I guess I don't mind…_"Hey Rude," she greeted casually."I guess I'll be—"

She was interrupted by a loud cry."Woman, you are _not_ sitting in my lap!" Barret was telling Elena."You all wet and smelly!"

"I am not smelly!" Elena screeched, and Tifa had to refrain from covering her ears.

Tifa maneuvered herself around so that she could look at Elena."Do you want to sit in Rude's lap?" she asked with a sympathetic smile.

Elena flushed and made a face."N-no!" she stammered."I mean, um, I don't want to sit in anyone's lap!But I guess anyone is better than Barret over here!"

"Same to you, smelly woman!" Barret retorted as the two girls filed out of the car and came back in, only this time Elena went first and sat down in Rude's lap and Tifa sat in Barret's.Rather than get into another "sensible discussion," Red chose the more impulsive approach and simply leapt into the car, trying his best not to hurt Tifa, Elena, and Yuffie with his claws.Unfortunately, he was only mildly successful.

"Ow!Red, be careful!"

"You scratched me, you dumb mutt!"

"Gawd, Red!That hurt!"

Red ignored all their grumbling with the ease of long practice and settled himself carefully in their laps.He ended up stretched across the entire length of the back seat, with his head in Yuffie's lap, his front paws and upper body in Elena's and his hindquarters in Tifa's lap.Red was not a happy camper.

"I'm not enjoying this any more than you are," he grumbled as Elena accidentally kneed him in the belly."This is a very uncomfortable position."

"You're telling me!" Yuffie exclaimed, patting Red on the nose just to annoy him.He growled up at her.

"Is everyone okay back there?" Cloud called, twisting around the best he could with Reno squashing him.

"NO!!" was the unanimous response.

"Okay, just checking," Cloud said with a grin."Let's go."He started to reach for the shift, and realized that they had a problem.Reno's legs were in the way.He had them all bunched up on one side of the shift, making it impossible for Cloud to shift gears without breaking one or both of Reno's legs in the process.Not that that would be a bad thing, but…

"Reno," Cloud said."Spread your legs."

Reno whirled on him with an incredulous expression on his face."What?I didn't know you swung that way, Strife."

Cloud rolled his eyes."Straddle the shift.I can't move it with your legs all bunched up like that.You're blocking me."

"Fine," Reno muttered, apparently realizing that it was the logical solution to the problem.So he did as Cloud said and placed one leg on either side of the shift, almost knocking out the windshield, breaking the radio, and cracking the dashboard in the process. 

"Okay," Cloud said again."Now we're ready to go."

"To Midgar, foo!" Barret cried for no apparent reason.

"Whoo-hoo!" Reno exalted sarcastically, trying to ignore how awkward it was to have Cloud reaching between his legs to shift gears.

The going was tough from there on.After Cloud had already started the car, Cid wisely pointed out that the garage door wasn't open.Then after the garage door was open, Tifa noticed that it was still raining and suggested that it might be a good idea if they put the buggy's hood on.So after all that was done and the buggy was out of the garage, Cloud had to run through the rain to close the door because everyone else was "too comfortable."They ran into even more problems when they realized that they couldn't drive the buggy through Kalm because all the roads were flooded.After another minute of arguing and some of Reno's "wise suggestions," Cloud took matters into his own hands and, with a quick apology to Tifa, drove right across the lawn, tearing up the grass as he went.As Tifa lamented the fate of their front lawn and everyone, even Elena, promised to help her replant it, Cloud half drove/half hydroplaned across the grassy fields beyond Kalm until they reached the highway leading to Midgar.

After scraping the bottom of the buggy getting onto the road itself, they were finally on their way.Cloud breathed a sigh of relief.He just hoped this trip was going to be worth all the trouble they were going through to get there.But he was in for a lot more trouble along the way…

Two minutes after they had gotten onto the highway, Reno decided that he didn't like Cloud reaching between his legs every time he needed to change gears.

"Strife, stop doing that!"

Cloud scowled."I need to change the gears, Reno.Unless you want to be going 15 miles per hour all the way to Midgar?"

"Well, no!" Reno said."But why do you need to keep changing the damn gears so much?Just go to a really high speed and stay there!"

Cloud pointed to a big puddle sitting in the middle of the road."See that there?" he asked impatiently."If I hit that going 60 miles an hour, we're gonna skid off the road and into the grass and then we'll be walking all the way to Midgar!"

Reno floundered for words."Well, um, I have an idea!I'll change the goddamn gears from now on!"

Cloud was in no mood to argue."Fine.I'll tell you when to change them."

Reno made a face and gripped the shift with one hand."I don't need you to tell me!I can change gears without your help.I have a standard car, too, ya know."

Cloud had to bite his tongue to keep from yelling, but he decided to let Reno have his way if they wanted to get to Midgar within the next year.Unfortunately, their little arrangement didn't work out very well.Reno had no idea when Cloud needed to have a gear shifted because he insisted that he didn't need to watch the speedometer.As a result, he kept shifting gears at the oddest times, making the buggy jerk and stall and make very ugly-sounding noises.More than once, Red ended up falling from the girls' laps and sliding to the floor of the car.Finally, Cid threatened to skewer Reno with the Venus Gospel if the didn't relinquish control of the shift.Noticing that the pilot was serious, Reno reluctantly surrendered control back to Cloud with the complaint that he still felt "violated" every time Cloud changed a gear.

The trip went as smoothly as possible for the next five minutes until Barret broke the tranquility. 

"Okay, it smells like arse up in here!Who farted?"

"You smelt it, you dealt it!" Reno declared cheerfully.

"Maybe it's your upper lip," Elena snapped, using her anger to cover up the fact that sitting in Rude's lap made her nervous as hell.

"Well, it sure as hell wasn't me!" Cid exclaimed.

"You denied it, you supplied it!" Reno said immediately, ignoring the fierce glare Cid shot him.

"Actually, it smells more like a wet dog," Barret corrected himself, sniffing at the air.

"That would be me," Red said flatly."Now hush." 

Barret hushed because he couldn't think of a snappy comeback to say.Cloud unconsciously began to drive faster, eager to get to Midgar before they all went stir-crazy and started killing each other or something.He counted the minutes of peace and got up to ten before Tifa, of all people, spoke up.

Hers was the nice kind of interruption, though.

She smiled and said in a hushed tone, "How cute!Look!Yuffie's asleep." 

And sure enough, Cloud turned around briefly to see that Yuffie had fallen asleep in Vincent's lap with her head nestled fearlessly underneath the man's chin.Her eyelids fluttered slightly as if she sensed their stares, and she cuddled closer to Vincent as if to hide her sleeping vulnerability from their prying eyes.Vincent was looking out of the rain-splattered window with his arms wrapped absently around Yuffie's waist, watching the clouds churn and dance angrily over the horizon.He paid no attention to the curious looks the others gave him. 

"No wonder she was so quiet," Elena muttered after everyone was done wondering how Yuffie could have possibly fallen asleep in _Vincent's_ lap.Most people were so afraid of Vincent that they were afraid to _breathe_ around him. 

"Don't jinx it woman!" Barret whisper-screamed."Maybe she'll stay asleep for the rest of the trip."

Actually, when Cloud pulled up in front of the entrance to Sector Five on the outskirts of Midgar, Yuffie was still slumbering peacefully in the circle of Vincent's arms, completely trustworthy of her companion.She only awakened when everyone else was piling out of the car in search of breathable air and Red accidentally scratched her on the leg.

She was awake immediately, shrieking, "Eeep!Something bit me!Vinnie, something bit me on the leg!"

"Don't worry, Yuffie," Vincent said calmly, opening the car door with his claw."It was just Red."

"_Red_ bit me?!"

"No, he accidentally scratched you when he was climbing out of the car."

"Oh," Yuffie said, stretching and rubbing her eyes."Are we here yet?"

"Yes."

"Okay," Yuffie said, trying not to sound disappointed.She didn't want to climb out of Vincent's lap just yet, but if she stayed any longer, then it would start to look like she actually _liked_ sitting in Vincent's lap.So with great reluctance, she hopped out of the buggy and onto the muddy ground, wincing as her borrowed boots sunk into the gooey substance._Good thing I'm not wearing my sneakers,_ she thought as Vincent climbed out and shut the buggy's door.

Trying to work the kinks out of her stiff limbs and ignore the raindrops hitting her head, Yuffie walked around to the front of the buggy where everyone else was already gathered, all staring silently up at the diseased city of Midgar.It was still as ugly as sin.Sure it was on its way to recovery, but it was still a long way away from discarding its gloomy countenance in exchange for one that looked even the least bit inviting.And the rain pouring down and all the dark clouds that _always_ seemed to be gathered right on top of Midgar did nothing to change the way she looked at the dilapidated city.Yuffie had never really liked traveling around in Midgar, especially in the slums.It depressed her.Every time she saw a homeless person begging for food or one of the little delinquent pickpockets casting furtive glances at her items pouch, it always made her think that no matter what poor Reeve did, Midgar would always be a worthless cause, something that was already beyond help.

"Midgar," Barret suddenly said."I hate to be sayin' this and all, but it's gonna feel good to be back home." 

"Just remember," Cloud said firmly."Be careful where you tread, and this place is gonna be searched high and low!Everyone has their PHS?"

All of the AVALANCHE members nodded.

"And cell phones?" Cloud asked. 

The Turks nodded.

"Okay, then!Let's move out!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"There they are," Titus said, more to himself than to Fa-Li.The blonde-haired man didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that there was rain pounding down on his back and the top of his head.He adjusted the lens of his binoculars and focused more closely on the miniature army approaching the gates of Sector Five.He and Fa-Li had been hiding on the top of a pile of rubble and keeping a close lookout for the past hour.Titus had figured that even members of AVALANCHE wouldn't be so reckless as to parachute into Midgar again in the middle of a thunderstorm.He had also figured that they would use the entrance closest to the direction from which they would be approaching, and he had been right.Of course, he took no pride in being correct.The hard part was still yet to come.

"Well, it's about time they arrived, baby," Fa-Li snapped from where she was cowering under a small alcove created when the rubble plummeted to the ground.She was soaking wet and being even more of a bitch then usual."Where's that stupid little ditz we're going after?"

"Hmm…hold on," Titus replied absently, studying each of the members closely.He recognized the three blue-suited Turks immediately.How could one not know them?There were only three left in the world.And he recognized Cloud Strife, the one with the spiky blond hair and blue eyes, for there wasn't a single person in the farthest corners of the world who hadn't seen a picture of Cloud Strife at least once.It's not everyday a Sephiroth clone saves the world from total eradication.

Then, Titus' slightly luminescent eyes fell on the last pair entering the gate, and he cursed softly."Dammit."

Fa-Li immediately snapped to attention."Damn what, sugar?Somethin' wrong?"

"I found the girl," Titus said, tracking the movements of Yuffie Kisaragi with his binoculars.She was a lot younger than he had been expecting…

"Then what are you damning?" Fa-Li grumbled, pushing her damp hair away from her eyes.

"She's working with Valentine," Titus said grimly, putting the binoculars away and pulling a black ski mask from his item pouch."It's not going to be too hard to capture her, but it's getting the drop on Valentine that I'm worried about."

Fa-Li was starting to look interested."Valentine's out there?Really?"

Titus rolled his eyes and tossed the binoculars in her direction."Take a look for yourself if you don't believe me."

Fa-Li started to inch towards the binoculars, but she suddenly stopped short and drew back into her little hiding place."Are the Turks still down there, Titus?" she asked softly. 

Titus flicked his gaze quickly to the small army walking fifty feet below them and immediately saw three blue suits."Yeah," he muttered, voice muffled by his ski mask as he pulled it over his head.

The Wutainese woman suddenly drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, looking like a little girl."That's alright, then," she murmured."I'll take your word that Valentine in down there."

Titus finished adjusting his ski mask and turned to stare at his companion.Against the backdrop of dark cloth, the slight luminescence in his eyes was all the more obvious."What's wrong with you?" he asked grumpily.

Fa-Li adverted her gaze."Nothing, honey."

"Don't call me that," Titus snapped, rising to his feet, a silent signal that they were about to move out."Are afraid of the Turks, Fa-Li?"

"You might say that," she whispered softly."I've heard…stories.Yes, Titus, I'm _deathly_ afraid of the Turks."

Titus snorted and said coldly, "Well, I think that you had better swallow that fear.You don't want something like that getting in the way of your mission.Or mine."He walked away without a second glance.

"Asshole," Fa-Li muttered under her breath as she rose to her feet and followed her companion down the rubble pile and into Sector Five.

* * * * * * * * * * *

_Author's Note:Okay, I know this is a filler chapter with a little bit of angst, and a bunch of pointless humor thrown in for good measure, but I don't care because I had so much fun writing it! ^_^Barret, Cid, and Reno are just too hilarious, and I wanted to develop Cid and Barret's characters more.I felt like I was neglecting them. I'm glad that I got this chapter finished in time.School's about to start up again.::sighs::Send in those reviews and e-mails!I'll need the support now more than ever.Thanks!~Catalina_

_ _

e-mail [catalina2717@go.com][1]

   [1]: mailto:catalina2717@go.com



	18. The Midgar Nightmare

**_Sink to the Bottom With You_**

**Chapter Eighteen**

**_ _**

**_The Midgar Nightmare_**

_"Because I'm the only one who has the patience to deal with your pissy attitude."Red XIII_

_ _

"This place smells like shit," Reno grumbled, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he panned his flashlight around one of the "underground tunnels" beneath Midgar.There were heaps of green algae (and other stuff that Reno didn't even want to think about) clinging stubbornly to the stone walls and glaring indignantly at Reno as he sought to violate their putrid sanctuary with his presence.There was the sound of water running nearby, and a quick inspection with his flashlight showed that a small sludgy "river" had decided to make its home in the Midgar sewers.The waters were dark with all sorts of rancid substances so that not even the light from Reno's flashlight could pierce their oily surfaces.Fascinated by anything that he could gross out Elena with, Reno took a tentative step across the concrete and winced as the bottom of his boot slid across another patch of algae, almost sending him to the water.

"I hate this place!" he exclaimed angrily, once he was sure that he had recovered his balance."I'm gonna to kill Cloud for sending me down here!" 

"Quit your complaining, Reno," Elena snapped as she descended the ladder heading down into the sewers, her heels clanging loudly on its rusted surface."It's not like I'm having a good time, either!"

Reno rolled his eyes.He could already tell that this was going to be a fun trip.He, Elena, and Red were already dripping wet due to how freaking _long_ it had taken them to find a manhole that had a ladder that didn't lead straight into pool of solid or liquid waste.Parading around Midgar in the rain with a bitchy Elena and a silent Red had already put Reno in a sour mood, and the rancid stench of the "underground tunnel" was only serving to exacerbate his grumpiness.

_ _

_That goddamn Cloud,_ Reno thought, pushing at his wild hair with a gloved hand._He knows that the only underground tunnels in Midgar are the sewers.__I don't care if there might be something to find down here, I think he only sent me down here to keep me away from Tifa, which is stupid because I need…I need…_

Reno shook his head violently, the wet strands of his ponytail striking the sides of his face like miniature slaps.What the hell was wrong with him?Now wasn't the time to be thinking such things.Now was the time to be bitching as Reno of the Turks was obligated to do when he was cold, wet, tired, grumpy and running around shit-filled sewers.

"This sucks," he announced, wrinkling his nose as his flashlight beam lit upon a log that probably wasn't a log at all.

Elena stumbled over to his side and saw what his light was trained on."Ewww!" she moaned, her voice echoing in the dark sewers."That is revolting!Totally disgusting!I _hate_ it down here!"

Red landed on the ground with a clack of claws behind them."I assure you that none of us are enjoying or will be enjoying this trip, Elena," he said flatly, shaking water from his coat for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"Oh, be quiet!" Elena snapped at Red for no apparent reason, gesturing with her arms so violently that her flashlight almost flew from her hands."At least you can get the rain off of you by splattering it all over us!And I can't see a thing!This is going to be a whole lot harder on us than it will on you!"

Red blinked, his one eye faintly luminescent in the darkness."First of all, Elena," he said calmly."You probably can't see anything because you don't have your flashlight on.And while we're on the subject of the hardships of this trip – try having your face only three feet off the ground with an enhanced sense of smell _in_ _the sewers_, and then tell me who is going to have a harder time."

Reno rolled his eyes."Quit your complaining."

Red eyed Reno coolly as he took a couple of experimental steps down the algae-covered concrete."Certainly," he replied."As long as you do."

The redheaded Turk growled under his breath as he followed Red's beast-like form with his flashlight."Why did we get stuck with you?" 

"Because I'm the only one who has the patience to deal with your pissy attitude," Red answered without looking back at Reno.His flame-tipped tail swished in the rank darkness, a lonely beacon in an endless pool of eerie black.

"Well, at least we're out of the rain," Elena grumbled, hugging herself with her arms as if cold."What's the game plan?I want to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible, you know." 

Red almost sat down on the concrete, but apparently thought the better of it and remained standing."The way I figure it," he said."All our job really entails is following this tunnel and searching for anything that may appear out of the ordinary."

"What's your definition of 'ordinary'?" Reno grumbled, examining the interesting substances on the wall with his flashlight again."Everything down here looks a little…eccentric."

Red acknowledged the Turk's observation with a nod."I suppose we should be looking for things that appear to have been disturbed recently.It's unlikely that anyone would ever come journeying down here for normal, everyday matters."

"Except idiots like us," Reno muttered.

Red ignored him and started to walk off into the darkness."Let's get going."

Elena groaned and followed him, switching on her flashlight as she did so.After debating whether or not to protest on how the mutt had suddenly taken charge, Reno reluctantly followed, keeping his flashlight trained on the floor in front of him so he didn't slip on any more algae.He had only taken two cautious steps before felt a strange feeling run down his spine and spread across the width of his back.Reno hissed under his breath and reached behind himself to pat his back with his free hand, certain that some oddball lifeform had detached itself from the ceiling and slid down the back of his suit.But all his questing fingers found was the damp material of his navy blue suit.

Still not trusting his results, Reno whirled around and shone the beam of his flashlight down the expanse of tunnel they had just left.Nothing.Just the same algae covered walls and rancid water running merrily along its shit-filled way.A little bit of light filtered in from the open manhole cover as raindrops plummeted through the open hole and into the sewers, eagerly exploring this fun, new, dark place.Reno's aquamarine eyes narrowed in outright suspicion, their slight Mako glow accusing the dark of hiding things that he needed to know.

_ _

_Something's wrong,_ he suddenly thought._I know this feeling…_

"Reno!" Elena suddenly called, her nasal voice jolting him out of his thoughts.

The redheaded Turk spun around to get a faceful of light blaring in his eyes."Dammit, Elena!" he cried, throwing up his arms to shield his smarting eyes."Watch where you point that thing!"

Elena lowered her flashlight."Well, if you hadn't started lagging behind like a slow-pokey turtle, then we wouldn't have had to come—"

"Spare me the sob story," Reno snapped angrily, blinking in order to make the red spots leave his field of vision.

"What's wrong, Reno?" Red asked calmly, padding up to stand next to Elena.

"Nothing, nothing," Reno grumbled, too embarrassed at being caught in an act of paranoia to tell them about the peculiar feeling he had in his gut."Let's just get goin' already, okay?I don't want to be down here too long."

"Trust your instincts, Reno," Red suddenly said softly, golden eye glittering in the dark with a natural bestial gleam.

Reno scowled."What the hell are you talking about?"

"Is there something bothering you?" Red insisted.

"No!" Reno declared immediately."It's just…should we shut that manhole cover or not?Rain's coming in and all."

Red snorted and turned away again, as if disappointed in Reno somehow."Close it if you wish," he said calmly."Because I certainly can't do it."

"No!" Elena cried."Don't close it!It lets a little light in after all.We'll be able to find our way back if we get lost." 

Casting a suspicious glance over his shoulder and panning his light around one more time, Reno nodded reluctantly."Fine, we'll leave it open."

"Good," Elena said, and turned to follow Red into the darkness.

But Reno lingered for one moment more in the darkness of the tunnel, breathing the rank air and listening as the star-crossed raindrops fell into the filthy sewer and struck the concrete with lonely splashes.Something was wrong; he could feel it in his bones.Three years as a Turk hadn't just earned him an endless supply of blue suits and a pair of hands stained with blood that could never be washed away.Reno had an incredible intuition and senses as sharp as they needed to be for a professional assassin.Red had told him to trust his instincts.

Y_eah, well, instinct tells me to get the hell out of here and go get plastered at a bar,_ he thought_.And that sure as freakin' hell ain't gonna happen so…I'm leaving now._

With that, he spun and followed his companions into the darkness, forcing himself not to look back once.

* * * * * * * * *

Titus stood as still as a statue in the pouring rain, letting the pitiful droplets course down his leather clothes and soak whatever skin they could find.Underneath his ski mask, his platinum blond hair was already soaking wet, and there were raindrops clinging to this long eyelashes.Beside him, Fa-Li was shifting her weight from one heeled boot to the other, the epitome of misery with her dripping hair and soaked skin.The leather bodysuit she was wearing offered defense against the sadistic little raindrops, but the form-fitting outfit was more for show than protection against the elements.In other words, she had enough skin exposed for the rain to soak.It was bugging living hell out of her, and the fact that Titus was standing still in the rain like an idiot _again_ wasn't helping to ease her sour mood.

"Well, what the hell are we waiting for?" she finally snapped at him."If we stay here any longer, we'll lose the trail of the Kisaragi girl."

Titus didn't reply.His incredible eyes remained closed, the pale flesh of his eyelids looking thin and vulnerable against the cloth of his ski mask.Fa-Li was about to repeat her question in a meaner tone when Titus' eyes suddenly snapped open.

"Through with your little nap?" the woman snapped, trying not to let herself think of just how damn beautiful those emerald eyes were.If she got to thinking like that, then she began to actually miss what she and Titus used to have, and that was never a good thing.People weren't meant to be missed or grieved over.

As Fa-Li watched in bafflement, Titus suddenly strode across the wet pavement, his boots splashing through puddles as he went.Rolling her eyes and resisting the urge to scream, Fa-Li chased after him, careful to overstep the puddles that Titus had just plowed through.

"Baka!" she called when she saw her companion suddenly stop his puddle splashing and kneel on the ground."What the hell are you doing _now_?"

"Just be quiet," Titus deadpanned."And quit calling me stupid.I don't appreciate it one bit."

"Fine," Fa-Li snapped, shoving at her waterlogged hair away from her face as she splashed up behind Titus to see that he was staring down an open manhole, his gloved hands wrapped around the edge.The cover was discarded a few feet away, apparently having been dragged off, judging by the scrape marks on the pavement that the rain hadn't washed away yet.The sewer gaped open like the hungry mouth of some sea beast…and it smelled just as bad, too.

"Titus!" she immediately exclaimed, wrinkling her nose and backing away from the odoriferous stench."I am not going down there!I mean it, Titus!"

"I didn't say we were," he answered calmly, rising to his feet and crossing over to where the manhole cover was lying meekly on the pavement.Titus hunched over it, sliding his slender fingers underneath the edge and pulling it over easily.He carefully slid it back over the open manhole, shutting its rank breath off from the world.

"Now, why did you go and do that?" Fa Li asked as he straightened up.

Titus stared at her, the fabric of his ski mask moving along with his mouth."Didn't you see three of them go down here?"

Fa-Li scowled."No."

"Well, I did," Titus replied, the look in his eyes reprimanding."I don't want any outsiders interfering with this mission so I'm eliminating the possibility of them intervening."

"By trapping them in the sewers?"

"Precisely." 

Fa-Li suddenly smiled prettily, stroking the wet leather sleeve covering Titus' right arm."You're so smart, honey."

Titus jerked away as if she had bit him, scowling so hard Fa-Li thought his face would crack."Whatever," he snapped, turning his back to her."Now help me look for something to hold the cover down with."

Fa-Li followed her companion with a sigh._Men…_

* * * * * * * * * *

With a loud grunt of exertion, Cloud slammed one booted foot against the door, putting all his weight into the kick.The twisted metal groaned in protest at the abuse it was receiving, and to his relief, Cloud felt it give a little underneath his foot.Taking a deep breath, he backed away from the door and steeled himself to give it another kick.This time, the battered metal fell away completely, collapsing and giving Cloud, Tifa, and Rude a lovely view into the darkness that used to be a home for Artemis van Hojo and all his sick scientific secrets.

There was a moment of silence in which the trio gazed into the hungry darkness, perhaps remembering all the pain and strife that Hojo had caused when he had been alive and wishing that they didn't have to go venturing into the man's former home and breathe in the evil-tainted air.Then Cloud wiped his hands on his pants and said, "Okay.Is everyone ready?"

Tifa adjusted her gloves, trying to hide her discomfort."I guess so, but one thing?"

"Hn?" Cloud responded, not looking at her but instead peering into the darkness, trying to discern something with his Mako-enhanced vision.

Tifa glanced at Rude with a questioning look in her burgundy eyes."Weren't you just in here a couple of days ago, when you saw the Running Man?"

Rude nodded."Yes."

"Then how come we had to break down the door?"

Rude hesitated for a moment, then said, "Turks know of secret passageways within the building often used when the President decided that he needed one of his employees…silenced."

Tifa's eyes widened."You've killed members of your own organization?" she asked quietly.

Rude looked away from her beautiful face, absently fiddling with his fingerless gloves."The Turks are assassins, Tifa.They kill indiscriminately."

"How sad," Tifa commented snappishly, folding her arms across her chest and looking away from Rude sharply.She wasn't trying to mean to a man who had been nothing but polite to her, but she was starting to think that she would never be able to see eye to eye with an assassin.Even ex-assassins.

Cloud noticed that Tifa wasn't going to continue her questioning any further and decided to pick up where she left off."So, if you know about a secret passageway, then why did I just go through all the trouble of kicking down the door?"Cloud wasn't in a very good mood, either.He was thinking that he pulled muscle in his leg.The damn thing was hurting like a bitch…

"Because," Rude said in response to Cloud's question."Reeve ordered all the secret passageways to be torn down immediately, and that's what I was doing in there that day.He said that the Turks would not longer have any use for them now or ever again."

"And were you relieved?" Tifa suddenly asked, turning back to Rude again and watching him carefully.

The overhead lights flickered on the lenses of Rude's sunglasses as he looked at her and said sincerely, "Yes, I was."

Tifa didn't reply, but the look in her eyes was one of approval.

Cloud snorted, shifting his weight to his unhurt leg."So even Turks have hearts, I guess?"He knew he was being shallow and problematic, but he couldn't help it.He had a bad feeling in his gut that would go away.

"Turks have as much of a heart as terrorists do," Rude answered calmly."And I'm not trying to insult you, Cloud.Just merely stating facts."

Cloud sighed in resignation."Yeah, I know.Sorry, I just…"He turned away abruptly, not wanting to make everyone else nervous with his paranoia.Something was wrong; he just knew it even though he was at a loss to explain what precisely it was that was making him so nervous.

"What's wrong, Cloud?" Tifa asked his back, speaking directly to him for the first time since she had slammed the door in his face a couple of nights ago.That day seemed so far in the past already…

Cloud shook his spiky head without turning around."Nothing," he said quietly."Let's just move out already."

That said, he took a bold step into the darkness of Hojo's lab, his entire figure disappearing into the hungry shadows.The vise of memory immediately closed around his chest along with the darkness, and he had the sudden urge just to turn around and leave.But Cloud knew that he could never allow himself to do such a thing.He had given himself the task of investigating Hojo's lab for one reason: he didn't want anyone else to get hurt.After he and AVALANCHE had rescued the late Aeris from the Shinra tower over year ago, she and Red both had mentioned that there were more specimens then just the two of them and the monster that Cloud, Barret and Red had defeated.And though Hojo was dead and gone (good riddance), Cloud had a bad feeling that some of those specimens might still be lurking around the shadowy corners of the lab, and they were probably not happy.If anyone was going to deal with those living phantoms of the past, it was going to be him.

But as Cloud moved gingerly into the darkness so that Tifa and Rude could enter the lab, he was starting to think that maybe he wasn't the most competent one for this job.He had only been in Hojo's lab once, and that had been over a year ago.Besides, now that he saw just how whole and complete the darkness was, he realized that his Mako-enhanced vision, no matter how good it was compared to a normal human being's, wasn't really much of a help.

_ _

_I should have brought Vincent and Red with me,_ he thought grimly._Vincent can see almost perfectly in the dark, and Red could have used his sense of smell…but I wanted to have Tifa with me so that I could protect her.And Rude was the one that saw the Running Man.What if I made a mistake choosing the teams?Maybe Tifa would have been safer with that goddamn Reno in the sewers than up here with me and Hojo's reject specimens.What if we get lost in here?What if Red and the others get trapped in the sewers?What if Barret and Cid can't reactivate Cait Sith?What if the Running Man decides to take revenge on Vincent and Yuffie for following him?I can't protect them all!_

_ _

_Yeah,_ a voice sneered in the back of his mind._And what if your head explodes because you've been worrying too much?Focus, Strife!_

A shadow suddenly shifted on Cloud's right side, and the leader of AVALANCHE nearly had a heart attack right then and there before he realized that it was only Tifa's shadowy figure standing close to him.The meager light streaming in from the hall outside the door danced briefly in her burgundy eyes before the darkness swallowed that, too.

"That you, Tifa?" Cloud asked, just to make sure.

"Mm-hm," Tifa said, moving again so that Cloud could be sure of her presence.It was then that she realized that he probably couldn't see any better in the dark than she could, and that was going to cause some problems.She had been thinking that Cloud's Mako-enhanced eyes would be able to pierce the blackness easily, but now that she saw that that wasn't true, the fluttering feeling of anxiety was blooming in the pit of her stomach.

_ _

_If he can't see anything, then this is going to be the blind leading the blind,_ she thought gloomily, watching the steady but suddenly weak light from Cloud's Mako eyes gleaming in the darkness.She could see nothing else.It was strangely bewitching, watching those two floating orbs of Mako blue hover in the darkness like earthbound stars, their lights only flickering when Cloud blinked.They were misted and beautiful, focused on nothing until they lit upon her figure in the gloom.The light suddenly narrowed and became more intense as Cloud apparently squinted to see her better.

Tifa waved in spite of herself, forgetting that she was supposed to be angry at Cloud for being a butt for the past two days."I'm right here," she said softly, relishing that long lost feeling of his eyes on her.

The two blue eyes bobbed up and down as Cloud nodded slightly."Where's Rude?" he asked.

"Right here," Rude's calm voice issued from bunch of shadows right behind Tifa's left shoulder.She jumped a bit at finding him so close behind her; she hadn't even heard him moving around in the darkness.

"Where exactly did you see the Running Man?" Cloud asked, disembodied voice floating like a ghost in the darkness.

"In the main lab," Rude answered in his deep voice."You know, the one where he usually conducted the experiments on the specimens."

Cloud winced."You mean the one with the specimen elevator?"

"Yes," Rude said.

"Isn't that a little far away?" Tifa asked, remembering the time she and the others had stormed the Shinra Headquarters to find Aeris.It hadn't exactly been a short walk to get over there.

"Yeah," Cloud said grimly."And we have no source of light to guide us.I'm assuming there's a lot of debris around here?"

"There is," Rude confirmed matter-of-factly.Tifa suddenly heard the rustling of clothes."But I also have this."

A beam of light suddenly struck Cloud in the face, setting his Mako blue eyes and golden hair alight with artificial fire and dancing across his strong features.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, flinging his strong arms in front of his face to shut out the light."Watch out!Did you have that all along?"

"Yes," Rude said calmly, steering the flashlight away from Cloud's face.

Now that there was light in the room, Tifa could see Cloud take his hands away from his face and scowl deeply."And why did you fail to mention that before?" he demanded of the stoic Rude.

"Forgot," was Rude's simple answer.Then he shone the flashlight beam into the darkness over Cloud's shoulder and started to walk away, sufficiently ending the conversation then and there.

Cloud and Tifa had no other choice but to follow him and hope that they weren't in over their heads.

* * * * * * * * * * *

"You put a _what_ down there in the sewers?!" Fa-Li demanded of her companion as they paraded through the rain toward the office of President Reeve, where Titus believed they would be able to kidnap the Kisaragi girl.

"An Evict," Titus answered matter-of-factly as he tore through another puddle."I locked it in one of Hojo's old tunnels.You know, the ones he used to use to transport human specimens?"

"I know the ones," Fa-Li snapped, "but where in Leviathan's name did you ever get your hands on an _Evict_, for crying out loud?!"

"I have connections," Titus said flatly.

"But those things are monsters!" Fa-Li cried, fighting to keep up with her companion's taxing pace."Faceless Men that failed to submit to the treatment that turns them _into_ Faceless Men.They're nothing more than zombies!They'll eat anything!"

"That's the idea," Titus said coldly.

* * * * * * * * * * * 

_Thissucksthissucksthissucksthissucks,_ Reno chanted over and over in his head, anything to distract himself from the disgusting, suspiciously warm water sloshing around in his boots.He decided then and there that he was going to kill Cloud Strife once he got out of here.What the hell did the little turd think he had been doing, sending Reno down into the sewers to look for "abnormal things."Everything Reno had seen so far had been abnormal!Everything from the greenish brown pool of…whatever…that he, Elena, and Red had literally _swam_ across to get back on the concrete path to the green moss-like growths that were suddenly dangling from the walls and ceilings, every once in a while swooping down to tangle themselves in Reno's spiky hair.He was cold, tired, and filthy, and it didn't help that he now had no earthly idea where the hell they were.Getting lost in the sewers was something that didn't appeal to Reno one damn bit.He at least hoped that Red knew where they were.If he didn't, then they were in deep shit.

Not that they weren't already, of course.Literally and figuratively.

"I wanna go home," Elena suddenly whined, sounding ten years younger than she really was.

"Shut up," Reno snapped, focusing his flashlight on her back instead of the nasty sludge on the floor.He was still in the back of the line."It's not like I'm having any more fun than you are."

"Nor I," Red added from the front of the line, his fiery coat stained and clotted with all sorts of gross-looking stuff.

"What are we even looking for down here????" Elena whined again, waving her hands in the air and making her flashlight beam dance and swirl along the walls."Why can't we go back up the surface and just say that we didn't find anything?!"

Red stopped and whirled around, fixing the female Turk with a bestial glare that made her stop dead in her tracks, a grumpy Reno almost plowing into her back."Do you want to find Reeve or not?" Red growled up at Elena, golden eye alight with inhuman intensity and one lip curling slightly over his sharp teeth.

Elena blanched and said weakly, "Yes."

"Then would you kindly shut up?" Red asked calmly, though the annoyed rumble that Reno heard in the back of the beast's throat sang a different tune.

"Hey," Reno snapped, walking up beside Elena and glaring down at Red."Leave her alone, mutt."

Red's hackles rose, then settled just as quickly.He closed his eye briefly and sighed, his entire form relaxing a little."Forgive me," he said to Reno and Elena as he reopened his eye."I'm not in my best of moods right now."

"I think we need a break," Elena suggested hopefully, glad that Red wasn't angry anymore.

Reno rolled his eyes."Yeah, let's just plop down on the floor and have ourselves a little rest."

"We need to discuss our next course of action," Red deadpanned.

Reno scowled."Our next course of action is to get the hell out of here.You and I both know that the only reason that Strife sent us down here is to keep me away from Tifa.And if I were you, Red, I would be pissed that I got sent along as a babysitter."

The red lion-like beast stared at him with unshakable calm."You don't know Cloud.He wouldn't have sent us down here if he didn't believe there was something down here for us to see."

"What's there to see?!" Reno demanded, his grumpy mood making his voice harsh."All I can see for the next fifty yards are piles of shit and more piles of shit!All three of us are dead tired, and you know it!Let's just go back up!If Strife wants to see all this crap lying around, he can do it himself, on his own time!"

Red's flame-tipped tail continued to swish calmly in the dark, unperturbed by Reno's anger."Instead of complaining, Reno, why don't you tell us something useful for a change?"

"Like what?" Reno growled, shifting his weight and wincing as he felt the goop that was sheathed happily in his shoes.

Red glanced at both Reno and Elena before continuing."You two were both members of Shinra, Inc.Just how much contact did you have with Professor Hojo?"

An unwelcome and unexpected shiver suddenly ran down Reno's spine at the mention of that horrid name."Minimal," he clipped, trying very hard not to remember all the terrible things that Hojo had done in his twisted lifetime."Turks weren't allowed up into the labs without special permission."

_ _

_Not that anyone would have wanted to go anyways,_ he added silently.

Elena had no problem expressing her fear and disgust in a violent shudder that nearly shook the flashlight from her hands."As little as possible," she said quietly, her face looking glaring and ghostly in the light from their flashlights."That man terrified me.Him and his specimens – he must have done such horrible things to them!"

Red looked off into the darkness, golden eye glinting briefly in the light."He did," the beast said calmly, but both humans could hear the repressed anger in his gravelly voice."Trust me, I know from first hand experience what it is like to be a specimen."

"That must have sucked ass," Reno said with his normal eloquence, eyes straying to the tattoo "XIII" on Red's left foreleg.

"It did," Red replied, shifting his gaze back to Reno and Elena."What else can you tell me about Hojo and his specimens?"

Reno suddenly got the impression that he was being tested, and he didn't like it one bit.He always failed other people's tests."Why all this sudden interest in Hojo and his specimens?" he demanded of Red."It's not like we were his goddamn lab assistants or anything."

Red's golden eye stared hard at the two humans while the shadows and artificial light danced over the folds of the stitched one."When I was imprisoned in Hojo's lab, I noticed that there an unusual batch of specimens that I'm sure even a horrifically immoral man like President Shinra would never have permitted Hojo to experiment on, at least in the multitude I saw them in."

"Just what were these unusual specimens?" Elena asked, making a vain attempt to hide the tremor in her voice.

"Civilians," Red said flatly."Human beings."

Silence, except for the sounds of dripping water.

"He kept them in cages," Red continued, staring off into the dark again as if in that inky embrace, he once again experienced the terror that he had apparently witnessed during his captivity."I could hear them scratching and clawing at the metal bars like animals, even from my cell in the specimen lab.And their screams – their screams were so loud I was surprised all of Midgar couldn't hear.But no one ever did hear.No one but me and the other specimens.But, of course, I was the only specimen there with something remotely resembling intelligence.All the others were simple beasts or had had what little emotion they contained in their forms obliterated by Hojo's ghastly experiments.But the humans…they were the worst."

"Oh my god," Elena breathed, bringing her hands to her cheeks, heedless of the filth that covered them."Did you ever see any of them?"

Red glanced at her."No, but their screams were real enough."

"B – But," Elena stammered."How could he have gotten them up there?"

"There was really no up," Reno suddenly cut in.All eyes turned to him, and silence once again descended.The redheaded Turk stood with his arms casually folded across his chest, the epitome of calmness even though his aquamarine eyes dared the others to challenge what he was saying.

_ _

_Damn you, Red,_ he thought silently._Damn you for bringing this up and making me look like an even bigger monster than everyone already thinks I am._

"They were kept down below," Reno continued in a level voice."Where Hojo apparently thought no one could hear them."He glanced in passing at Red."Apparently, however, someone _could_ hear them after all."

Elena's mouth was hanging open."Reno?You knew that these humans were being held captive?"

"Yes," Reno said coldly, aquamarine eyes glittering frostily.

"And you didn't do anything?" Elena squeaked, the look in her eyes straddling the line between horror and outrage.

Reno looked off into the darkness, glad that he couldn't see all of the nasty things that were hiding out there."Elena, I was second in command of the Turks, but I was also known for my belligerence and my insubordination.Shinra couldn't have such an important, dangerous man misbehaving now, could he?"He paused briefly to recover himself, then said, "Hojo showed me from the very beginning just what would happen if I betrayed Shinra Inc."

"Oh, Reno…" Elena whispered, her eyes filling with tears of pity.She suddenly rushed forward and hugged her friend hard, trying to offer him comfort.

Reno brushed her rudely away, his eyes harsh."Leave me alone," he hissed.

"But, Reno," Elena began, still trying to grasp what had happened to her friend.Reno had had such a cruel life and had seen such terrible things, and why did Fate still continue to mistreat him?And how strong he was, never giving up.At that moment, Elena had never felt such respect and love and sympathy for her uncouth, redheaded friend. 

"You mean President Shinra authorized the experimentation on these humans?" Red asked Reno in a flat voice.

"Of course he did," Reno snapped."But in a very discreet way, of course.I believe his exact words were, 'Do whatever you think will further the power and development of Shinra Inc.'You should know that everything about that fat bastard was under-handed and sneaky."

"But in such multitudes?" Red asked skeptically.

Reno shrugged."He probably didn't know that Hojo was going to bring in so many, but it didn't matter in the end.Hojo did what Hojo wanted to do, and there was no one on Earth that could stop him."

"But surely too many humans being held captive would create quite a stir," Red pressed on, watching Reno's reaction to his words carefully."Rumors would get out, and that is not what the late President Shinra would have wanted now, would he?"

"Why are you asking me?" Reno snapped angrily, thinking that Red was trying to get at something."I can only assume that Hojo had ways of silencing those that found out about the experiments, and he probably had secret…passageways…"

Reno's voice trailed off, as he realized just why Red had started this conversation in the first place.

"And where would those secret passageways be, Reno?" the lion-like beast asked, suddenly sounding like he was talking to a two-year-old.

A scowl appeared on Reno's handsome face."In the _@#$%ing, shit-filled sewers_!" he snarled, glaring down at Red."You did all that fancy-talking and subtle questions just to make me look stupid, didn't you?You crafty mutt!"

Red snorted a bit at the name-calling."Actually, Reno, I just wanted to confirm one of my suspicions about the experimentations.You know, make sure I wasn't hearing voices in my head the entire time I was in the lab." 

"Just the hell up!" Reno snapped, suddenly feeling the urge to throw a tantrum."You're not funny!"

"I wasn't trying to be."

"Yeah right!"

"Excuse me," Elena suddenly cut in, waving her hands in the air between the tranquil Red and the fuming Reno."So are you saying that the secret passageways we're looking for are the ones most likely used by Hojo to transport the human specimens underground?"

Red nodded approvingly."I think that sums it up rather beautifully, Elena.It's good to see that someone here still has their wits about them."He spun and started down the concrete path again.

Reno's glare followed him."Okay, you mangy mutt, I'm just gonna pretend like that comment wasn't directed at me."

"Pretend all you want," Red countered, not looking back."But it was."

Reno let out a cry of frustration and anger, squeezing his flashlight so hard that he almost cracked the plastic.On a wild and crazy impulse, he swooped down and scooped a handful of goop lying on the floor and flung it at Red's retreating back, his aim going wild in the darkness.

Red dodged it easily and kept going as if nothing had happened.Elena took one look at the fuming Reno and his sewage-covered hand and took off after Red, apparently deeming him to be the more stable one at the moment.

Mumbling curses under his breath, Reno stamped after them, wiping his filthy hand on his filthy suit instead of wiping it on the filthy wall or the filthy floor.He never could remember being this miserable in his entire life.

After five more minutes of walking, he just as miserable.He had no freakin' idea what the secret transport tunnels were supposed to look like, so how the hell was he supposed to find one?It was still pitch black in the sewers, and the only things his flashlight was showing to him were the river of sewage to his left, which was still gurgling and bubbly happily, and the nasty looking walls overgrown with green algae.Not very nice things to look at.He was pretty sure that the transport tunnels were dug into the walls somewhere, but if Red wanted to find them, then he was going to have to sweep away all the gross crap that had made its home on the concrete walls himself, because Reno sure as hell wasn't going to do it and Elena was probably too afraid she was going to break a nail.

Reno had been walking for another five miserable minutes when he suddenly heard _something_ moving in the water on his left.His nightstick was immediately in his hand and his flashlight trained on the murky waters, but he saw nothing.Nothing at all.

"What the hell," he muttered, glaring at the flowing water as if they were going to give up their secrets if he stared at the murky waters meanly enough.He was _sure_ he had heard something…no, probably just his imagination…yeah, that was it.

"Reno?" Elena asked, suddenly noticing that her companion had stopped following them."What's wrong, Reno?Hurry up, or you'll get left behind."

"Yeah, yeah," Reno muttered, slowly walking away from the water in question and moving back towards his friends.

"Is something wrong, Reno?" Red asked gruffly, his tail swishing back and forth rapidly.

"No," Reno grumbled, lowering his nightstick reluctantly and turning towards the lion-like beast to give him another nasty Leave-Me-Alone-Because-I'm-Still-Mad-At-You glare.Then he noticed that some of Red's fur was standing up on end and his hackles were up.

"What the hell happened to you?" Reno demanded."You bite into a live wire or something?You got a serious fro going on there, my friend."

Red shook his head like a dog as if doing so would flatten the fur.It just made it puffier."Do you smell something?" he asked the two humans.

Reno took a big wiff of the air…and immediately regretted it."I smell shit, shit, and more shit."

"Ew," Elena commented, wrinkling her nose."Same here, Red."

"But…do you smell anything else?" Red asked with a strange hopefulness in his voice.His fur still had yet to resettle itself.

Reno sniffed again."Shit," he confirmed."And sewage.Nothing else."

Red started to pace uncomfortably."Well…I smell something else.It's an odd smell…almost like Mako, but not quite.It's something different, and I don't like it one bit.It makes me…afraid."

"You think there's something alive down here, then?" Elena asked in a hushed tone, her eyes wide in the meager light given off from their flashlights.

Red suddenly shuddered violently, and Reno took an unconscious step back from him, a little nervous.He had never seen Red do that before…

"Elena," Red said."I _know_ there's something alive down here, but I don't understand what's making me feel all this…fear all of a sudden."

Reno was about to make another witty comment on the way Red's fur was standing up on end when a loud, echoing moan suddenly filled the sewer tunnel like the awakening rumble of some age-old beast.It was pitched low and seemed to vibrate the concrete beneath their feet, and all three of them froze upon hearing it, muscles going rigid in their bodies.On and on it echoed like the eerie moan of a restless ghost, rebounding off the walls and jumping back at them until the sound seemed to become the very air, burning their lungs as they inhaled.

"Okay," Elena whispered fearfully after it was done."What…the hell…was that?"

The moan came again, louder this time.Reno and Elena shone their lights around wildly, trying to pinpoint the source.

"It's coming from down there," Red snarled, crouched in battle-ready mode as he glared at the section of the sewer tunnel that they had yet to investigate.

Once again, the moan split the air of the tunnel, harsher and almost sounding like a human voice.

"Holy shit!" Reno cried, his heart thundering in his chest."That sounds like a @#$%ing person!"

"Oh my god!" Elena screeched, her eyes so wide they practically bugged out of her head."Is someone trapped down here?!"

Red shuddered again, suddenly reminding Reno of a person having spasms."It don't like this!" he growled, pacing like a caged beast.

"Hello!!" Elena suddenly called before Reno could tell her to shut up."Is anyone down here?!"

The moan came again, sharper and louder than before.Whatever it was, it now knew that they were there.

"This way!" Reno cried, rushing past the shivering Red and slipping and sliding down the tunnel."Hey you!" he called."We're coming!"

"Reno, wait!"Red snapped as Elena ran past him in pursuit of her friend."Something's not right here!Wait!"

But Reno didn't even hear him.The redheaded Turk ran almost blindly into the darkness, following the source of those ghastly moans that sounded like funeral music from beyond the grave.All he could think about was someone trapped down here, in the sewers, alone for who knows how long.And damn his lying soul to hell if that didn't sound like a godforsaken human being!A human trapped, like those poor specimens in Hojo's lab…

"Hold on!" he cried, his flashlight in one hand and his nightstick in the other as he raced across the concrete, shoes slipping and sliding on the goopy surface, almost sending him flying into a couple of walls.

"Reno, wait!" Red called again, bounding after them."Wait, I said!"

A wall suddenly loomed up in front of Reno in the darkness as the everlasting sewer tunnel came to end.Reno cursed and backpedaled furiously, narrowly avoiding sliding into the algae-covered wall.

"Damn it!" he swore, his heart thundering in his chest."Where is that sound coming from?There's no more tunnel!"

Elena skidded to a stop behind him, huffing and puffing."Reno," she gasped, wiping her forehead with the sleeve of her suit."Look, right there!"

Reno whirled back around to look at the wall, wondering what Elena was babbling about.Then he realized that a section of the filthy wall wasn't as filthy as the rest.The algae had been unsettled recently, some of it scraped and shoved away to expose a circle of dull, rusted metal embedded in the wall.Before he could stop himself, Reno reached out with his hand and wiped away even more of the clingy algae, which, in its battered state, was forced to submit to his superior strength and relinquish control of the domain upon which it had rested for years.

Squinting in the darkness, Reno shone his flashlight on the tarnished surface, and suddenly the letters "Transport Tunnel E-14" jumped out at him.

"Hey, Red!" he cried, proud of himself for making a discovery."I think I found one of those tunnels!What if one of the humans is still stuck in here!I'm gonna open it up!"

Red rushed up to him from behind, startling Reno so bad that he nearly unloaded a full charge of electricity into his furry friend."Reno, you mustn't!" Red cried, his fur still standing up on end."Don't open it!"

"Dammit, Red!" Reno cursed, turning his attention back to the tunnel door and clearing algae away from the handle."Get a hold of yourself!"

Red shook himself violently again, baring his teeth."Reno, I'm warning you, don't open that!We haven't heard that sound again."

The Turk scowled and took hold of the handle, starting to pull."But that doesn't mean it's not—"

Reno never got a chance to finish his sentence because the tunnel door suddenly burst open from within, a ghastly moan erupting into the rank air and rising to a shrill degree.The door slammed hard into Reno, sending him flying into the wall behind him, his nightstick falling from his grasp as spots danced in front of his vision.He heard Red let out a bestial snarl of alarm, then heard a loud splash, but Reno was unable to see what was going on since the door was blocking his view.And the shrill moaning continued.

Elena, who had been waiting a distance away from the tunnel, suddenly let out a terrified scream, her eyes riveted on the opening to the tunnel and her face as white a ghost.

Reno was about to ask what was wrong when he saw a human figure run at Elena, shrieking in ghastly voice and flailing its stick-figure arms in the air, hands flopping on the ends like some sort of rag dolls.It was dressed in the tattered remains of what might have been clothes, and it ran blindly towards Elena, the only thing it could see, screaming the entire way.

"What the @#$% is that?!" Reno cried, hand fumbling through the muck on the floor for his nightstick.That thing was gonna attack Elena!

The monstrosity let out another feral shriek that froze the blood in Reno's veins and suddenly lunged in Elena's direction, its bony hands curled into claws.

Suddenly, Elena's gun was in her hand and trained on the abomination.Reno heard her scream as she fired three bullets right into the creature – two in its chest and one in its head.

But the thing refused to be silent even as it went to its death, crumbling to the floor like a sack of potatoes and giving one last gurgling cry of madness before it at last was quiet, lying on the concrete in a still heap, its face pressed to the floor and its limbs arranged bonelessly around it.

For a moment, no one dared to speak a word, both Elena and Reno staring at the monstrous mold of demon clay fashioned into the figure of what might have once been a human being.It was completely bald, its pink head shiny and glistening, and its ratty clothes barely covered its emaciated figure.It hands, or what was left of them, where still curled into monstrous claws as it lay there dead on the floor, unmoving, as blood pooled out around it.

"R-Reno," Elena suddenly whimpered, her hold on her gun trembling.Her flashlight, which had been held in a death grip in her other hand, suddenly clattered to the floor.Her knees started to crumple.

Nightstick forgotten, Reno was on his feet in an instant, rushing over to his friend.She all but fell into his arms, her brown eyes still riveted on the motionless figure of the creature she had just killed.Reno tried desperately to still the pounding of his own heart as he wrapped his arms around Elena, holding her small body tightly against him.

"You're okay, 'Lena, you're just fine," he said in the most soothing tone that he could manage, smoothing back her blond hair.His hands were trembling like crazy.

Elena buried her face in Reno's chest, her back heaving with silent sobs as she started to babble, "Oh my god, Reno!It was so hideous!My god, Reno, it nearly killed me!It wanted to!I know it did!"

"It's dead, Elena," Reno said firmly, burying his face in her blond hair and trying to ignore the horror they had just experienced."You killed it.Nice reflexes, there, Elena.Very good."

"It was human!" Elena suddenly cried, arms locked around Reno's waist in a vise-like grip."That thing was human, Reno!Oh god, what did they do to it!!It was human!"

Reno cast a dubious glance at the lifeless figure lying facedown on the floor, illuminated in the light from Elena's discarded flashlight.Human?Could it be?Maybe Red would know…

It was then that he noticed Red was missing.

"Hey," he told Elena gently, squeezing her tightly for a second and then releasing her."Where's Red?"

Elena wiped her eyes with her hands, her gun still held tightly in one of them. "That…that thing came bursting out and knocked him into the water."

Reno's eyes widened, and he shone his flashlight into the murky, sewage-filled river at his side."He fell…in there?"

Elena nodded mutely, reaching down with a trembling hand and picking up her flashlight, keeping a safe distance from the creature's dead body.

Reno took a step closer to the nasty sewer river, wrinkling his nose in disgust."Ugh…well, I'm not going in there after him so he'd better—"

Just then sewer water exploded everywhere as _something_ jumped clear out of the water, growling and snarling as it did so.Elena let out another scream and raised her pistol, and Reno was just about to dive for his nightstick before he realized that the sewer monster was none other than their furry friend…

"Red!" he cried, pissed that the mutt had startled him to bad."What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Red landed gracelessly on the concrete, covered from head to toe in sewer water and dripping more of the nasty stuff onto the concrete.He had a panicked look in his one golden eye. 

"Run!" he cried, teeth bared to the gum, fighting to keep his balance."There's something down there!"

Reno barely had time to say, "What?" before the river rose up again, this time spitting enough water up in the air to splash Elena and Reno with its nastiness, blinding the humans for the time being.A high-pitched bestial roar suddenly split the air, louder than the cries of that insane creature that had attacked Elena.This mighty shriek seemed to shake the very foundation of the sewers, threatening to bring everything toppling down on the three travelers.

_ _

_What is it?!_ Reno wondered furiously as sewage water stung his eyes and he flung his arms up to cover his face.He heard a loud hissing sound.

"Snake!" Elena suddenly screamed.That word made Reno's blood freeze in his veins.

_ _

_Snake?Oh no…holy shit…_

Heart thundering in his chest, he wiped the last of the rank liquid from his eyes and opened them to see the head of a giant snake towering over them in the light from Elena's flashlight, its forked tongue darting in and out of its fanged mouth and its cold, slitted eyes alight with dark hunger.Poison dripped from its sharp fangs and fell into the water, making pained hissing noises as it did so.Water cascaded down its scaly hide, glistening with godly danger, silently telling the weak little mortals that they had no chance against something of this might.

"A giant snake!" Reno confirmed, hand flying to his left hip before he realized belatedly that he had lost his nightstick.

_ _

_IhatesnakesIhatesnakesIhatesnakesIhatesnakes,_ he thought wildly as he stared dumbly at the monstrous creature that was eyeing him hungrily.He abruptly felt his consciousness slipping…

Teeth sank into his leg, and Reno nearly shrieked like a pansy before he realized that it was Red.

"Run!" he cried, darting away…back towards the tunnel that the monstrosity had emerged from.

"Where?!" Elena shrieked, pushing Reno along in front of her as she followed Red.For some reason, Reno couldn't get his feet to work properly.

"This tunnel!" Red cried, hopping up into the entrance."It's the only way!"

"But we don't even know where it leads!" Elena cried.

"Doesn't matter," Red retorted."Anyplace is better than here!"

Reno abruptly returned from his little venture to the Twilight Zone."My nightstick!" he cried.

"Leave it, Reno!" Elena cried, still shoving him along.

But the snake, infuriated that its prey was escaping, suddenly lunged forward with a bestial roar, intent on devouring whatever it got to first.

Reno sensed the thing coming behind him, but he could do nothing about it.His reflexes were dulled by fear, and besides…all he had was a freaking flashlight!What was he supposed to do?!Blink it to death?

Suddenly, Red's figure appeared in the entrance of the tunnel again, yellow and orange lights blazing around his lean figure like the fury of a thousand suns.

"STARDUST RAY!!!!" he roared, the air around them turning dark and star-filled as he threw back his head and let out a ferocious howl that shook the very bones in Reno's body. 

_ _

_Please let me make it out of this alive,_ Reno prayed as he heard the giant snake let out a pained scream behind him.But as he and Elena ran past Red's blazing figure, Reno sent a silent plea that his friends would make it out alive, too.

* * * ** * * * * *

_Author's Note:Eeep!Sorry to take so long and then to leave you hanging like that!O_OPlease don't kill me!I'll hopefully be back soon with the next chapter!The reason why I posted this one now was because the chapter itself was getting so huge that I didn't want to put the whole big old thing up at once!So…see you guys soon…hopefully…~Catalina_


	19. The Midgar Nightmare II

The Midgar Nightmare II

**_The Midgar Nightmare II_**

_"Should you really be walking around on top of that?"Rude_

"Cid?"

"What do you want?"

"Yer goddamn chain-smokin' is giving me a headache!"

"So hold your breath, then!"

Barret cursed under his breath and resisted the urge to pound his friend into the floor of the elevator.He was well aware that neither he nor Cid was in a very good mood at the moment, but in Barret's opinion, he was the one that had to suffer more since, not only was he wet and tired, he had to breathe in a lungful of second hand smoke every time he inhaled.Given the rate at which the slow-ass elevator was moving and the rapid rate that Cid was filling the confined space with cigarette smoke, Barret figured he'd probably be dead by the time they reached the top levels of the Shinra Building, where Cait Sith was safely stored in an office that hadn't been damaged from Diamond Weapon's assault on the Shinra Headquarters.

Barret eyed Cid evilly."I mean it, old man!" he growled."Put that damn thang away!"

Cid turned and gave him a withering glare, continuing to expel smoke from his mouth."Me old?Look at you!And I ain't puttin' this thing away till it's done, for your information!"

"I'm gonna be dead by the time we reach the top!" Barret protested angrily.

Cid shrugged and leaned against the glass elevator wall behind him."Better hope we get there quickly, then.Why did that damn cat put his little stuffed toy so far up anyways?"

Turning away from Cid (and the main source of the smoke), Barret stared out the opaque, rain-streaked elevator glass and into the city of Midgar, which was fighting to survive the torrents of rain plummeting from the dark sky."Don't know," he said in response to Cid's question."'Jes 'cause he wanted to keep anyone else from getting to it, I guess."

Cid snorted, smoke exiting his nose and fighting for a place in the already smoke-filled air."Who the hell would want a stuffed moogle and an annoying cat that fights with a goddamn megaphone?"

"Hell if I know!" Barret snapped, trying to ignore the smoke-induced migraine that was pounding at his temples.He knew that he should have volunteered to go with Tifa, Cloud, and Rude to pay a visit to Hojo's lab.Anything would be better than staying here and being forced to inhale all this damn smoke with Old Man Chimney…

The elevator continued to head upwards with agonizing slowness, and every second was torture for Barret.He could practically feel his lungs turning all gross and charred and blackened with every breath he took.Soon they'd shrivel away into nothing, and he'd have to rely on a respirator to do all this breathing for…

"We're here!" Cid sang happily as the elevator chimed.

_ _

_Eureka!_ Barret thought, nearly running Cid over in his haste to get out the smoky elevator.He stumbled to a stop and hunched over his knees, inhaling deep breaths of air that was blessedly free of second hand smoke.

Cid walked up behind him, taking one last puff of his cigarette before grinding it beneath his boot."The hell's that matter with you?" he demanded of Barret."You huffin' like you just ran a marathon."

"Sure as hell feels like I did," Barret snapped, straightening up."I'm taking the stairs next time, old man."

"Do what you want, old geezer," Cid counterattacked, blue eyes roving over their surroundings."Where to now?"

Barret took the cue from his friend and examined the floor they had exited on.He quickly recognized it as the thirty-third floor, the one with all those goddamn annoying doors that never wanted to stay open at once.Fortunately, when Reeve had become President of Neo-Shinra, he had deactivated all the superfluous security and turned the entire level into a huge storage facility.The only problem was that the power to this area only worked when it felt like it, and it was apparently in a bad mood at the moment.

"Where are the goddamn lights?" Cid demanded, squinting the gloom.He took a few experimental steps forward.

"They ain't workin' right now," Barret replied, trying to remember if Reeve had every told him which room Cait was stored in.Then his eyes flicked over to where Cid was stumbling around."Yo, Cid!" he cried."You about to run into a wall!"

"Shut your flapper!" Cid snapped, still walking."I know where—ow!Mother @#$%er!Who the hell put that @#$%ing wall there?!"

"Heh, heh," Barret laughed, but said nothing to his friend, knowing that Cid would probably blow his top and whip out the Venus Gospel if Barret dared so much as to snicker.

"Hey, old fart!" Cid said grumpily, his voice echoing in the storage level as he rubbed his aching nose."Where the hell is that damn robotic cat hiding?"

Barret's eyes roved through the darkness, only to find nothing.He could see shadows of walls and corners, but other than that, he was completely blind.He knew the layout of the floor fairly well, though, from when he had helped Cloud and the others clean out the floor.He knew it better than Cid, at least. 

"Follow me," he ordered Cid, taking a step down what _looked_ to be an empty space between storage blocks.

"Follow you?!" Cid echoed, his boots making loud stamping noises and he rushed to catch up with Barret."I can barely see you!"

Barret waved his arms in the air and started making a lot of racket by stomping on the floor."Get yer dumb arse over here!" he told Cid.

A humanoid shadow moved until it was in front of him."I'm here," Cid said grumpily, not liking being ordered around."Now what?"

"Now we move out," Barret said matter-of-factly, and started off into the darkness, trusting Cid to follow him.

Though he could see next to nothing in the blackness, Barret was pleased to find that he _did_ remember what the room looked like.He had always had better-than-average night vision, and he was able to sense the hulking bulks of the storage blocks as he went past them, keeping him from running headfirst into one and ending up with a huge goose egg on his head.But although he may have known the layout of the floor, Barret knew that their search would be futile until he knew exactly where Cait Sith was.

"Hey, foo?" he called to Cid.

"Yeah?" came the terse reply.

"You know where that damn cat put his robot?"

"No," Cid grumped."Haven't we been through this question before?"

Barret stopped, and Cid plowed into his back with a loud curse.

"Watch it!" Cid snapped, retreating a couple of steps from Barret's shadowy figure.

"Shu'up!" Barret told him, scowling at the darkness all around him, cursing it for its impenetrable armor."We don't know where Cait is!Whatcha wanna do, Cid?Search all the storage blocks one by one?!"

"Ain't there three main storage blocks?" Cid spoke up."Wouldn't that damn robot be in one of those, then?"

"Oh," Barret said, wishing he had thought of that."Good thinkin' old man!"

"Yeah, yeah," Cid muttered, deflecting the compliment."Let's just hurry up to the first block.I wanna get outta here.This place gives me the creeps."

"You jes' sayin' that because you can't see," Barret said as they started to walk again, with Barret in the lead and Cid playing drogue.

"You can't see either!" Cid exclaimed.

"I can too!"

"You can not!"

The two men let their arguing voices fill the silence as Barret continued to lead the way through the darkness.Barret had purposely baited Cid into fighting with him.The idea of stumbling around in the darkness with nothing but silence pounding him on either side was not an attractive one.Besides, arguing was one thing that Barret was damn good at, and he always loved a good challenge, but Cid would have to do.Besides, he didn't want the other man to be getting too nervous during their walk, or he would eventually turn paranoid.Barret had no idea how long they would have to search, and he also didn't know if this floor was as monster-free as it had been last time.Who knows what demented specimens still lurked around Hojo's lab and had wormed their way down to this floor?He wanted to get in and out as soon as possible, and if he had to argue with Cid the entire way to keep a cool head, then that was just the price he would have to pay.

But as luck would have it, the two men found Cait Sith almost right away.

They stumbled into the first storage room they could find, and nearly jumped for joy when they saw a small lamp sitting on a desk across the room, trying its hardest to illuminate the room with its gentle glow.

And bathed in that meager light was the dormant form of Cait Sith, the crowned cat slumped over the gigantic form of the pink robotic moogle.

Barret and Cid turned to each other simultaneously and grinned, glad to finally be able to see something in the dark.

"Bingo," Barret said.

"Right on, old fart-meister!" Cid exalted with a wide smile, putting his gloved hands on his hips and staring across the room at the huge stuffed moogle and the immobile cat on top of it.The oversized moogle seemed to grin at the two men, and Cid could practically hear Cait's annoying voice saying, "Geez!What you guys so loooooooong?!!!"

_ _

_Great, and I'm gonna bring the dufus back to life,_ Cid thought grumpily, then rubbed his hands together with anticipation of working with something mechanical.

"You gonna be able to fix him?" Barret asked his eager companion.

"Sure!" Cid replied cheerfully."It'll be simple."He started to walk across the floor to the waiting form of Cait, but he suddenly stopped and started digging through his pockets feverishly.

A feeling of impending doom washed over Barret."Oh no," he warned Cid."I know you ain't…"

Cid triumphantly pulled out a cigarette and lit it, inhaling contentedly and expelling the smoke through his nose."Ah," he sighed.

"Put that shit away!!" Barret roared, throwing his arms in the air, appalled by Cid's audacity.

The pilot sent him a withering glare."You don't like it, then wait your ass outside!" he snapped, then stalked off towards Cait Sith.

Barret let out a few choice phrases and went to go wait outside.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Tifa sighed and let another file drop into her "worthless" pile."Nothing," she announced glumly.

"Nothing at all?" Cloud called from across the room where he was hunting through a pile of debris.

"Nope," Tifa said with another sigh as she got up from her seat on a surprisingly intact chair and walked over to Cloud."You find anything?"

Cloud kicked at a scrap of metal with his boot, as if blaming it for the entire incident."No," he said gloomily.

Tifa folded her arms across her chest and looked around the room she and Cloud were working in.After long minutes of stumbling around blindly after Rude, the trio had happened upon a room that, thank God, had a couple of lights that worked.The room had apparently once been a storage unit for all sorts of files and papers, most of which had been reduced to pools of ashes floating around the corners of the room like miniscule phantoms.Rude, however, had immediately confirmed the room to be the one that he had seen the Running Man searching around.According to the tall Turk, their suspect had been looking through files at the very spot Tifa had been sitting at a few seconds ago.The three had agreed that Tifa and Cloud would stay behind and see what the Running Man had found so interesting while Rude went on to see just how the Running Man might have escaped from the lab unnoticed.

And Tifa and Cloud, after nearly thirty minutes of scouring every inch of their assigned room, had come up with nothing.

"I wonder if Rude found anything?" she wondered aloud, more to herself than to Cloud.

The ex-SOLDIER came up behind her, a bit of warmth in the darkness."Who knows?" he said rhetorically, his sheer closeness to her making her heart skip as if he were some girlish crush of hers and not a friend she had known for her entire life.

"Do you think he found something?" Tifa forced herself to ask, looking at Cloud out of the corner of her eye.

Cloud sighed and scratched his head absently, his gloved fingers sinking into the golden spikes."No," he said gloomily."I don't think we're going to find anything in this place."

"Tifa, Cloud," Rude suddenly called."Come over here.I think I found something."

This time, Tifa couldn't resist turning to Cloud with a gently amused smile curling her lips.

Cloud turned bright red and made a face."Go figure," he grumbled and stalked off in the direction they had heard Rude's voice coming from.

Tifa bit back an affectionate laugh and followed him, carefully avoiding sharp scraps of metal that sought to puncture her legs as she passed.The two AVALANCHE members found Rude in a room even darker than the one they had been in.Looking around, Tifa realized that it had probably been two rooms at one time, only Diamond Weapon's attack had completely eradicated one of the walls, leaving a pile of plaster, metal, and broken glass as a tombstone for the structure.Rude was standing by the wall farthest from them, shining his flashlight in their direction to show them where he was.

"Rude!" Tifa called, waving.

"Over here," he said, motioning for them to come over.

"What did you find?" Cloud asked dryly as the two of them stumbled over broken flasks and overturned boxes on their way over to their friend.

"Something strange," Rude answered, staring at them with his pale green eyes.He had removed his sunglasses a long time ago since it was obviously imprudent to be wearing them in pitch darkness.Both Tifa and Cloud had been shocked to find the eyes normally completely masked by those glasses a stunning shade of bright green.

"What so strange?" Cloud questioned, looking around for the big thing Rude was supposed to have discovered.All he could see in the darkness was debris and miscellaneous broken objects.

Rude turned and gestured with the beam of his flashlight, silently shining it into the darkness.Cloud and Tifa instantly saw what he was talking about, and their eyes widened in surprise.Tucked furtively away in the corner of the room was what looked to be a strange metal well.Only difference was that this "well" was two times as wide as a normal one and had a featureless hatch sealing off the top of it.

Tifa lifted an eyebrow."You're right, Rude.This _is_ strange.Any idea what it is?"

"Looks like a well or something," Cloud commented, striding fearlessly up to the anomaly and peering at it.

"That's actually a more accurate description than you may think," Rude said flatly.

Cloud looked at him in surprise, knocking on the surface of the "well" with his hand."You know what this is, Rude?"

"Transport tunnel," Rude answered without hesitation, but Tifa heard something akin to disgust in his deep voice.

Cloud looked up from his examination and stared hard at Rude, suspicion flickering in his Mako blue eyes."Transport for what?"

"Human specimens," Rude replied flatly.

His words hung in the air for a few seconds before Cloud finally found his voice."Human specimens?" he hissed, straightening up and clenching his hand into a fist."Hojo's human specimens, I presume?"

"That is correct," Rude said, watching Cloud carefully, as if afraid the blond-haired man was going to snap at any moment.

The ex-SOLDIER shut his eyes tightly, eyelashes fluttering as if they alone were holding in the whirlwind of heartache and hurt that churned within him."That…bastard," Cloud uttered in a low, guttural voice, sounding completely unlike himself."That…monster."

"Cloud," Tifa whispered, her heart aching for him as she started to walk towards him.She couldn't even imagine the pain he must be in, remembering back to the time when he was imprisoned by Hojo – as a human specimen.

Cloud abruptly turned his back to her, the lonely circle of Rude's flashlight hitting him square between his tense shoulders, bits of light dancing in his golden hair and glinting off the metal buckles on his suspenders.He put his hands on his hips and lowered his head as if in intense concentration, the muscles of his arms bunched and rigid as he fought with some internal demons still haunting his fractured memories.

Tifa was just about to call Cloud's name again when he suddenly leapt onto the top of the "well," not even pausing to think what would happen if the hatch had given out underneath his weight.

"I wonder what's down here?" he asked rhetorically, pacing around the wide hatch as if he were walking on normal ground instead of a metal door leading to tunnel formerly used for Hojo's sadistic purposes.Though his tone was vastly calmer than it had been a few seconds before, Tifa could still hear the anger simmering underneath that cool surface.And she couldn't blame him; Cloud, of all people, had a right to be angry.Hojo had nearly destroyed his life with his atrocious experimentations.

"Should you really be walking around on top of that?" Rude asked, striding over to the massive cylindrical well.The top of it nearly reached past the tall man's waist."It probably will be a long fall if it gives out underneath you."

Cloud stared down at him, Mako blue eyes glittering in the meager light from the flashlight."Is there any way we can open it?" he asked flatly, ignoring Rude's warning.

Tifa strode over to stand next to Rude, looking up worriedly at Cloud's face."Cloud, do you really want to open it?" she asked, running her hands lightly over the metal surface of the hatch's door.It seemed sturdy enough, but she wasn't going to be too careful when it was _her_ Cloud that was prancing around on top of it.

"We _need_ to open it," Cloud insisted, squatting on his haunches and running his hands over the surface, long fingers searching for any hidden grooves."Rude, shine the light more over here."

"This is probably where the Running Man escaped from the lab," Rude commented as he moved closer to where Cloud and Tifa were examining the hatch, directing his flashlight beam at the dull surface of the metal "well."

"Where do you think it leads?" Tifa asked Rude, the light from the flashlight dancing in her burgundy-colored eyes and highlighting the fine bones of her face.

"To the sewers.That's where all the transport tunnels lead." Rude answered without hesitation, unable to bring himself to look Tifa in the eye.It just didn't seem right somehow, talking of the ghastly things he had seen as a Turk while looking upon her beauty.

_ _

_Whoa,_ Tifa thought, blinking in surprise._That was a fast answer.Wonder how he knew about all that…_

Cloud raised his slightly luminescent eyes and studied Rude."The sewers?" he echoed, glancing down at the metal hatch underneath his boots."That's where Reno and the others—"

He never got a chance to finish his sentence because a faint scream suddenly ripped weakly through the still air of the lab, making Tifa's heart skip and beat before the blood turned to ice in her veins.

"What was that?" she gasped, her burgundy eyes wide.Cloud and Rude had similar looks on their faces.

The scream came again, only this time a shriller, more high-pitched shriek could be heard alongside it, with a strange howling noise in the distant background.They melded into one horrible cacophony of terrified sounds before dying off just as quickly as they had begun.

"I think it's coming from beneath you, Cloud," Rude said quietly.

Cloud stiffened, and then abruptly leapt off the top of the closed hatch, landing on the floor beside Tifa."You mean someone's down there in the tunnels still?" he asked, looking halfway between downright perturbed and strangely angry.

Tifa wasted no time.If someone was down there calling for help, then she was going to do something about it.Heart thundering in her chest, she placed her hands on the top of the metal hatch and yelled as loud as she could."Hey!Is anyone down there?!"

"You bet your ass someone is down here!" a faint voice screamed, startling the trio.

Rude was the first to recognize the voice."Reno!" he cried, face actually registering the surprise he must have felt in his heart."Is that you?"

"No!" came Reno's faint voice again, dripping with sarcasm."It's the almighty Sephiroth!Get us the hell outta here!"

"Hey, it's Rude!" came another faint voice. 

"Elena!" Rude called.

"Open the hatch!" Tifa cried, talking to everyone and no one at the same time.Without hesitating, she leapt up onto the top of the hatch like Cloud had been doing seconds before, her gloved hands searching with blind desperation for anything that could open the hatch and let them into the tunnel.The sounds of Reno and Elena yelling filled her ears, urging her on, and the only thing on her mind was getting her friends out of the tunnel.After placing the flashlight on a nearby table, Rude leapt up and joined her as Cloud ran around the sides of the "well," searching for a button or trigger hidden on the scratched and tarnished metal.Bits of debris crunched under his boots and others cut into his legs, but he kept on going.

"Hurry up you idiots!" came Reno's voice.He sounded panicked.

"Reno, where's Red?" Cloud yelled, hands making a dull thumping sound as they lightly stuck the sides of the hatch, searching for any strange shapes or levers.

"He's fighting the giant snake!!!" Elena screeched, and Cloud was surprised all the glass in the lab didn't shatter just from the incredibly high tone her voice was pitched at.

Cloud felt his blood freeze in his veins."Giant snake?" he echoed incredulously.

"That's what she @#$%ing said, you dumbass!" Reno cried."Get us the hell outta here before it eats us!"

"Reno," Rude called, his voice amazingly calm."Is there a door or a button on that side that can open the hatch?"

"Yeah, but we can't reach it!" Reno replied."The ladder leading up to the hatch is broken!Shit!You guys hurry!Please!"

The desperation in Reno's normally mocking voice was surprising.Cloud had never heard Reno say "please" for anything before, and that was enough to make him pick up his pace.His gloved hands raced all over the metal surface on the sides of the hatch, fingers searching blindly for something, anything that would release the hatch.He had to get Reno and the others out of there!He was the one that had sent them into the sewers!If they died, it would be all his fault…

His fingers suddenly hit something.It felt like a depression in the metal that gave slightly underneath his fingertips.A button!

"I think I found something!" Cloud cried, and before anyone could say anything, he punched the button.

There was an immediate whoosh of air like a giant releasing a breath of relief.Then Rude and Tifa let out cries of surprise as the hatch beneath them suddenly started to reel backwards, sending them both flying to the floor of the lab, where they landed amongst shattered test tubes and plaster debris.

"Are you guys okay?!" Cloud demanded, regretting that he hadn't given them a bit more of a warning.

"We're fine," Tifa said breathlessly as Rude helped her to her feet.

"Guys!!" Reno's voice cried, much louder now that five feet of metal wasn't standing between them.

Acting fast, Cloud grabbed the flashlight from the table and peered over the edge of the "well," nearly recoiling from the stench that drifted upwards to ram itself into his face.Wrinkling his nose, he shone the flashlight straight down.

"Hey!" Elena cried, throwing up her arms to shield her face."Not in the eyes, if you please!"

Cloud's eyes widened at her appearance.The blond-haired Turk was soaking wet and was covered head to toe with a dark substance that looked like dirt but probably wasn't, given the place she and Reno had just emerged from.Her short hair was tangled and clotted with all sorts of nasty-looking things.A quick glance to the left showed that Reno was in the same condition, his fiery ponytail ravaged and scraggly and his suit ripped in several places.

"What happened to you guys?!" Tifa asked worriedly as she and Rude crowded in on either side of Cloud.

"Now's not the time for stupid questions!" Elena screeched, her head craned backwards to stare at the trio."Get us outta here!"

"And quick!" Reno added, glancing back nervously at the length of tunnel they had apparently emerged from before it abruptly took a shift upwards to become the "well" in Hojo's lab, precisely where Cloud and the others now stood.

Cloud panned his light around, taking in the whole situation.He quickly came to the conclusion that things were not cheery.Reno and Elena were on level ground at least twenty feet below them without any means to get up.The rusted ladder, which must have served Hojo's diabolical purposes for years, was lying in a cracked heap around the two Turks' feet, algae already growing on it.The section of tunnel separating Cloud, Tifa and Rude from Reno and Elena was almost a 90-degree vertical climb with no visible handholds.

"Well!" Reno cried impatiently, a deep scowl on his dirty face."Do something!Don't just stand there!"

"Rude, help!" Elena echoed, her brown eyes wide and frightened in the light from Cloud's flashlight."Before it comes!"

Rude turned to Cloud and said with amazing calm, "Is there a rope or anything up here that we can use?"

"I'll look," Tifa said quickly, and ran off into the dimly lit lab, searching the tops of tables and amongst the debris.

Cloud was about to ask if Reno and Elena had any way to get up the wall when an unearthly screech split the air, shaking the very metal underneath Cloud's hands.Every muscle in his body went rigid with fear as the bestial scream rang through the tunnel and the lab, the echoes rebounding off the walls again and again until it seemed that the scream would go on forever.

_ _

_I guess that's the snake…_

"Shit!" Reno cried."It's coming!"

"Hurry!" Elena begged."Please!"

Tifa suddenly came rushing back to Cloud's side, sweat on her forehead and her face pale with fear."There's nothing," she said quietly."No rope, no anything."

For a moment, Cloud felt panic rising in him, but he quickly repressed it, telling himself that he needed to be strong for his friends.They were depending on him to see them all through safe and sound, and he couldn't abandon that trust.

"Strife!" Reno suddenly called, and Cloud looked down in surprise to find Reno's aquamarine eyes drilling him with their Mako light."Don't disappoint me, Strife," Reno said with iron control in his voice."You're going to get us outta here.You're going to save our lives."

Realization suddenly dawned on Cloud._He's scared,_ he thought in wonder._Good God, Reno's terrified…unreal…_

"Hey, where's Red?" Tifa suddenly cried, some of her long hair dangling over the edge as the leaned down.

"I'm right here," a gravelly voice called, just before Red himself came bounding out of the tunnel, nearly plowing into Reno and Elena.He was in no better condition than his human companions, only he had several wounds on his body, the blood running thinly to tangle and clot the fur around it.His ragged breaths filled and echoed in the tunnel as he fought for breath.

"Did you kill it?" Elena demanded immediately."Please tell me you killed it!"

"No," Red said calmly, scratching his ear."But I hope you know how to swim."

_ _

_Swim?_ Cloud thought in confusion, and the looks on Reno and Elena's faces showed that they shared his bafflement.

Reno was about to say something sarcastic when a low roaring sound filled the tunnel, making everyone stop and listen.To Cloud's surprise, he found the sound vaguely familiar; it was almost like the noise water made when it was going down the drain in the shower…or when he turned on the water hose outside.Or maybe it was more like the sound of the waterfall outside of Lucrecia's…

"Holy shit!" Reno suddenly cried, grabbing Cloud's attention and forcing it to focus on the scene that was unfolding twenty feet below him.Reno, Elena, and Red barely had time to shield their faces before a humongous wave of water forced itself into tunnel, washing over them and filling every crack and crevice it could find.It rose at an alarming rate, eating up several feet of tunnel in only one second, getting closer and closer to Cloud and the others.

"Water?!" Cloud said incredulously, shining his flashlight on the murky surface, looking for any sign of his three friends.They had vanished beneath the surface.

"It's flooding the tunnel!" Tifa cried, gripping the edge of the "well" tightly.

_ _

_She's right,_ Cloud thought grimly as his eyes searched for any shadows beneath the water._I hope it doesn't overflow into the lab.And where are Red and the others?Damn…what if the currents in the water carried them back down the tunnel…towards the snake?_

Cloud's worries were short-lived, however, because three spouts of water suddenly exploded from the murky surface as Red, Reno, and Elena burst free of the water's liquid hold, sucking in huge gasps of air into their squashed lungs, their limbs clawing desperately for some sort of salvation.

"Guys!" Tifa cried in relief, one gloved hand resting over her heart."You're alright!"

"For now!" Elena sputtered, wiping water out of her eyes."Get us outta here!"

"Where's the snake?" Cloud demanded as he judged the distance between the two groups and saw that things were actually looking up.Hmm…the water had cut it in half.Maybe if he dangled over the edge…

"The snake was too large to fit in the tunnel," Red answered, doggypaddling and trying to see through the fall of his mane that had flopped into his one good eye."It made the water flood the tunnel with some sort of spell.It's going to use it to act as a sort of lubricant to help it along.I don't think we have much time!"

"Don't worry!" Tifa said consolingly, but the look in her eyes was one of almost pure panic."We're going to get you guys outta there!"

Everyone looked at Cloud expectantly.

_ _

_Damn,_ Cloud thought, shifting nervously under their gazes filled to the brim with panicked trust in the man they had come to call leader._It's times like these that I wish they wouldn't rely on me so much.What if I can't get them out in time?But…I have to…I won't fail…_

Determination flashed in his Mako eyes."Rude," he ordered."You're the tallest!Lean over the edge as far as you can!See if you can reach one of them!"

"Don't make Rude do it!" Elena screeched as Rude started to obey."What if the snake jumps up and eats him?"

"We're the ones in the water!" Reno yelled."It's gonna eat us first!"

"Be careful, Rude," Tifa said softly as both she and Cloud watched the tall Turk bend over the edge and stretch his arm out as far as it would go.Cloud's heart was thudding in his chest as the air throbbed with adrenaline and anxiety.If Rude couldn't make it…

"Someone hold my legs," the Turk suddenly ordered as Reno jumped for his hand and missed, crashing back down into the water."If I can make it down a little further, I think we'll be okay."

Cloud moved to comply, but Tifa beat him there."You keep a watch out for that snake, Cloud," she said, fastening her hands around Rude's calves, a look of determination on her pretty face."We'll take it from here."

Worry consumed Cloud."But Tifa…" he started to protest, thinking that Rude was going to be way too heavy for her.

His exclamation was stopped when the brunette smiled gently at him."I can hold him, Cloud," she said calmly."You try and reach one of the others!"

But despite her words of encouragement, Cloud couldn't stop himself from watching with anxiety as Rude dipped further over the edge, pulling Tifa forward with him.Rude's feet left the floor completely, and Tifa's face creased with the effort of holding onto him.Her boots make squeaking noises as they slid across the floor of lab, but she planted them firmly against the edge of the "well" to prevent herself from sliding further.Cloud could see the muscles of her slender arms lock as she fastened them around Rude's legs in an iron grip, and there she stood: the powerful goddess unwavering in her fate.

Cloud forced himself to tear his gaze away from her and pay attention to what was happening below.Reno had dived underwater and was now pushing Elena up from below as she leapt for and caught Rude's hand, her fingers digging into his gloved palm.

"I got her!" Rude called as Reno reemerged from the murky water with a loud gasp, strands of blood-red hair falling across his eyes.

"Tifa!" Rude cried, wrapping his other hand around Elena's arm to reinforce his grip on her."Can you pull me up!"

Tifa didn't reply; she was too busy focusing on not dropping Rude.Sweat rolled down her face and dripped down her chin, and her eyes were shut tightly with exertion.

"She can't!" Cloud answered for her."Elena, you're going to have to use Rude as a ladder…"

"O-Okay," Elena said weakly and started to obey, grabbing a hold of Rude's jacket and starting to pull herself up.

"Strife!" Reno suddenly cried, treading water next to Red."Do something to help the rest of us!We don't have time to wait!"

Cloud shook his head violently, feeling utterly helpless, a feeling he despised."I can't do anything!"

"Well, think of something!" Reno yelled, hitting the water with his hand in anger and splashing Red."We're waiting!"

Cloud pressed his gloved fingers against his temples and pressed hard, trying to shut out all the sounds whirling around him like a tornado of suffering and battle.He forced himself to calm down until his breaths flowed deep and easy in and out of his lungs and his heart wasn't beating so fast.

_ _

_Ok…I need a rope or something.Anything that they can grab onto.My sword?No way…they'll cut their fingers on it.Any of my armor?No!Damn it!Any of my clothes?No, the shirt won't reach, and the pants will take too long to get off with the boots and suspenders…hey!That's it!_

"Reno, hang on!" Cloud cried, unsnapping his suspenders from his belt in one swift motion.He tugged on the leather, testing its strength.A look of worry creased his face.The leather was well worn from the toils of endless battles; would it be enough to hold Reno?Well, it would have to be!

Putting the flashlight in his mouth, Cloud rushed up to the edge and leaned over as far down as he could, holding the end of the suspenders tightly in his fist and dangling the other end down to where Reno was treading water.

"Grab on!" Cloud tried to say around the flashlight, doing his best to hold the makeshift rope steady.

For once, Reno didn't have something pert to say in return.All harsh or sarcastic words he might have said died in his throat when he saw the lifeline Cloud was offering.Placing his palms flat against the side of the metal tunnel, Reno pushed down so that he sunk a little deeper in the water.Then he pushed up hard, springing up out of the water higher than Cloud thought he could have gone.Reno's hands shot forward and grabbed the leather suspenders in a death grip, and though Cloud had been prepared for the abrupt change in weight, the force still jerked him forward, the suspenders burning his palms as they tried to slither from his grasp.

"Shit!" he cried, arms locking as he was forced to support all of Reno's weight."Reno, you're heavy, goddammit!"

"Shut up and pull me up, Strife!" Reno shot back, shaking his head to get his ponytail out of his eyes.He was dangling about a foot off of the water, his hands locked indefinitely around the leather straps that were keeping him from plunging back to a watery doom.

Cloud flexed his muscles dubiously, seriously doubting his ability to pull such a large amount of weight for the entire ten feet of tunnel between Reno and final salvation.He hadn't been expecting Reno to weigh so much!For such a skinny guy, it felt like he was as big as an elephant.

But still, Cloud refused to give in.Steeling himself and gritting his teeth so that they sank down into the plastic covering of the flashlight, he braced his feet against the edge of the tunnel and leaned backwards as far as he could.Slowly but surely, he began to pull in the leather straps in a methodical hand-over-hand technique, trying to ignore the sweat rolling down his face and Reno's weight at the end of the suspenders.

Cloud didn't know how long he was at it before his muscles started burning from overexertion.His limbs felt weak and watery, and the poor flashlight was now adorned with permanent teeth marks along its sides.He didn't know how much longer he could keep it up, and he also had no idea how far Reno was from the tunnel's entrance.

A series of scrabbling, scratching noises suddenly rang through the air, and Cloud froze, expecting the worse.His eyes, which had been shut tightly in concentration, flew open only to see a dripping wet Red sitting on the floor a few feet away, panting heavily.Cloud blinked in surprise, nearly losing his grip on the suspenders.Last time he had looked, Red had still been in the water…

Red noticed Cloud's stare and said with amazing calm, "It helps to have four legs and sharp claws."

Realizing that the scrabbling noises he had heard had been Red scaling the wall of the tunnel, Cloud nodded stiffly and resumed the excruciatingly painful process of pulling Reno up inch by inch…

"Argh!" Reno – quiet until then – suddenly cried."Strife!Get over here!"

Rolling his eyes and snarling under his breath, Cloud wound the leather straps around his aching hands to reinforce his grip and walked over the edge of the tunnel, poking his head over the side to see what Reno was shrieking about.

Cloud didn't see anything out of the usual, just Reno hanging about a foot over the water like he had been before.

_ _

_Wait a minute,_ Cloud suddenly thought._Why is he still in the same spot?I KNOW I pulled him up higher than that!_

"What's going on?" he asked aloud, his voice muffled because of the flashlight in his mouth.

"The water just rose!" Reno yelled, casting a rather panicked glance at the liquid surface waiting eagerly underneath him, ready to swallow him if he were to fall again.

"Something's in the tunnel," Red observed, placing his paws on the edge of the tunnel and peering down at Reno calmly.

It took only a second for Red's words to sink in.

"The snake!" Cloud cried, his teeth unsheathing themselves from the plastic covering of the flashlight, losing their hold on it simultaneously.Cloud watched helplessly as their only source of light plummeted from his mouth and into the tunnel, missing Reno's head by a millimeter and…

…hitting a green, scaly snout that had just begun to emerge from the water.The flashlight bounced off of the shiny surface and rolled into the water in defeat, its small but powerful light illuminating an impossibly long, ghastly body before the water reached its batteries and extinguished its light forever, plunging Cloud and the others into almost total darkness.

Indeed, the only thing that managed to completely slice through the darkness was the slitted eyes of the snake as its head, huge and hideous, emerged from the water, its forked tongue lashing the air inches from the soles of Reno's shoes.

All the blood drained from Cloud's face as he beheld the monstrous creature whose head almost filled the entire tunnel.The anaconda rose from the water with calculating slowness, the water falling away from its scaly hide in sheets and leaving a ghastly glitter that Cloud could barely see in the darkness.He was vaguely aware of Elena screaming and the straps of his leather suspenders biting into his gloved hands, trying to bring him back down to earth.But the light from snake's eyes and the way its slitted pupils dilated and contracted like a beating heart had him mesmerized.An odd smell suddenly drifted up to him, and Cloud found that his heart was pounding with irrational terror.Why was he so frightened?!He had fought the Midgar Zolom before, and the swamp dwelling reptile had only been a little smaller than this one.But he was so afraid…

Maybe it was the Mako glow in Reno's aquamarine eyes that finally drew him away from the snake's frighteningly silent approach, but Cloud suddenly felt his gaze slid from the snake's luminescent eyes to the placid, unnaturally calm eyes of Reno, who was still dangling about three feet out of Cloud's reach, the form of the snake rising slowly beneath him, hissing suddenly as it did so.

"It's right behind me, isn't it?" Reno asked Cloud, Mako eyes boring into Mako eyes with a strange sort of detached intensity.

"Yeah," Cloud said quietly, watching the battlefield in Reno's eyes as all his training as a cold, callous Turk fought a losing battle with the simple emotion of human fear.

Then something in those aquamarine eyes suddenly snapped as terror got the best of Reno.The Turk's muscles suddenly locked desperately, and Cloud felt a pair of gloved hands fasten around his wrists in a death grip, driving the metal of Cloud's Crystal Bangle into the tender skin of his wrist.And as he felt the suspenders slid limply from his hands, Cloud realized belatedly that Reno was no longer at the end of them.

He was holding onto Cloud's wrists instead, the overpowering stench of sewage and fear plastering the ex-SOLDIER'S face with all the fury of a tsunami.

"Reno!" Cloud cried in surprise, as the sudden weight on his body dragged him forward, his feet almost leaving the floor.The tunnel and the snake suddenly loomed beneath him, more of a threat than before."Let go!"

But Reno was past listening to what anyone had to say.Cloud could hear the other man's breaths coming in hard, fast gasps as his fingers scraped across the skin of Cloud's arms, searching in blind terror for some sort of leverage to save him from the abyss.Cloud grit his teeth in pain as he realized that Reno was clinging to him like a drowning victim would cling to a lifeguard, trying to save his own life at the expense of the one that was trying to rescue him…

Cloud fastened his arms around Reno's back, his fingers digging into the waterlogged suit.Whether he was trying to help him along or shove him off, Cloud himself didn't know because the anaconda, drawn to all the sudden movement, suddenly let out a loud hiss and bared it fangs, which dripped perpetually with acidic venom that smelled so foul that Cloud felt his stomach churn with nausea.

Slitted bestial eyes suddenly locked onto wide Mako blue eyes, and the hunger Cloud saw in the those yellow orbs was an almost tangible thing in the air between them, making his heart pound in terror.He suddenly knew that the snake was about to attack, and there was nothing he could do about it with Reno pinning him like this.

_ _

_Is this…the end?_

_ _

_"Yeeesssss,"_ the snake seemed to hiss as it drew back its head to strike, opening its mouth wide so that Cloud could see the hungry lining on the inside, pulsating and quivering.

_ _

_Then…Tifa…goodbye…_

"Bolt 3!!!" Red suddenly cried, and the tunnel was filled with light so blinding that Cloud had to shut his eyes.The smell of ozone seared his nostrils, overpowering even the rank stench coming from Reno's jacket and tangled hair.And over the pounding of his own heart, the roar of the lightening, he could hear the pained screech of the anaconda rising so loudly that he could almost feel the very bones in his body quaking, as if in the grips of the same terror that inundated his heart.

"Reno!Cloud!" he suddenly heard Elena yell from somewhere to his lift."Hurry up and pull back!Rude and Tifa are ready to close the hatch!"

_ _

_Tifa…she's safe, then.Rude and she managed to get Elena out of the tunnel…it's just me and Reno, then…_

"Elena!" Red suddenly cried."Grab Cloud and pull them away from the tunnel's entrance!He's about to fall in!"

_ _

_I am?_ Cloud wondered in confusion as the Bolt 3 attack started to fade, spots dancing before his eyes.Then he realized that his feet weren't touching the floor anymore, and the only thing keep him from falling was the fact that Reno was balancing out the weight on his back and Cloud's belt buckle was rammed against the tunnel's edge, preventing him from sliding further.

He was about to try and move back from the edge when he suddenly felt small hands bury themselves in the back of his shirt and tug hard.The next thing Cloud knew, he was spread-eagled on the floor of the lab, staring up at the dark, deteriorating ceiling with Reno lying a few feet away from him, his face pressed against the floor.

_ _

_Hey,_ he thought, _I'm alive!_

"Shut the hatch!" Elena suddenly cried, bringing Cloud back to earth.The battle was still not over.

As Cloud lurched to his feet, he saw Tifa and Rude behind the hatch and shoving it with their arms, faces creased in concentration.The heavy metal hatch moved with agonizing slowness at first, and Cloud was all too aware of the fact that the snake was still in the open tunnel and could come bursting through into the lab at any moment.He was about to go and help them when the hatch lid suddenly pitched forward and began to slide shut using its own momentum.

But just as it was about to hit the edge of the "well" and consummate their safety, a shadow with luminescent slitted pupils suddenly shot upwards and slammed into the lid, stopping it in its tracks with a hiss.The giant snake's eyes glittered in the darkness that had nearly shut it off from its meal with an anger that seemed to be almost human.It was not pleased.

"That damn snake!" Cloud cried, anger rising in his throat."Just die, dammit!"

_ _

_Never,_ the snake's eyes mocked him.It forked tongue suddenly lashed out from underneath the hatch resting on its head, tasting the air of the lab.

With a loud cry, Tifa suddenly leapt onto the top of the hatch, slamming her boots into the metal with a bang.The lid dropped a few inches as the snake hissed in surprise at the sudden added weight on its skull.Before it could recover, Rude threw himself on the lid next to Tifa, and the hatch dropped a few more inches.It was almost shut now.

Then the snake recovered its dignity – if such creatures even had dignity – and suddenly pushed upwards with a violent thrust, almost flinging Tifa and Rude off of the hatch.

"Help, you guys!" Tifa cried, falling to her knees and grabbing a hold of the edge of the lid to keep her balance.Rude reached out a hand to steady her.

"We're coming!" Elena cried as she and Red rushed up to the hatch.The snake almost seemed to sense what they were doing and hissed loudly, its tongue flailing in the air and lashing out at them as they ran by.Undaunted, Elena and Red flung themselves onto the hatch lid with Tifa and Rude, adding about two hundred more pounds to the weight already resting on the snake's head.The lid dropped violently this time, until it was inches from closing.But it stopped there, and there was now no more room on the hatch lid.The only thing Cloud could see of the snake was its forked tongue still lashing out in the air beyond the hatch, whipping back and forth as if searching for something.

Ignoring the pronounced ache in his arms, Cloud reached behind himself and pulled the Ultima Weapon from its sheathe in one deft motion, the weight of it settling easily into his hands as he gripped the hilt. The screams of the snake and his friends filled the lab, and his eyes narrowed with determination; he was going to end this battle right here and now.He had had enough of fighting with this damn monstrosity!

But just as he was about to rush forward and slice off the snake's tongue, he suddenly felt something run past him and towards the hatch.

"Reno!" he cried in surprise, shocked at the Turk's speed as much as he was by the fact that he saw Reno was wielding a shattered beaker as a makeshift weapon.Cloud briefly wondered what happened to Reno's nightstick, but all rational thought was suddenly obliterated when he saw the meager light in the lab flash across the beaker as Reno raised it high over his head and brought it down with all his might on the snake's lashing tongue, grinding the piece of red flesh into the floor of the lab.

From underneath the hatch, the snake let out a high-pitched shriek that Cloud was to remember for the rest of his life.He could see it trying to desperately retract its tongue, but Reno was ruthless, twisting the razor sharp beaker from side to side even as blood spewed from the wounded tongue and splattered his face and clothes, drops of brightness against his pale skin.

The snake began to thrash wildly, the lid of the hatch jerking up and down as it tried to yank its bleeding limb from Reno's hold, but to no avail.Reno refused to let up.He kept the ripped tongue pinned to the floor, and the blood leaking onto the floor of the lab was as red as his hair, as red as the rage that Cloud perceived in his mind.Finally, it seemed as if the snake knew it had lost to an opponent more ruthless than itself.The tongue suddenly became taut, and then ripped off as of the snake gave an agonized shriek, retracting its severed tongue underneath the hatch lid, its cries becoming fainter as the lid suddenly crashed down on the edge of the hatch, an automatic lock clicking in place, consummating their safety.

The smell of sweat, blood, fear, and sewage hung heavily in the air of the lab long after the snake's cries had faded as it retreated back to its habitat.Cloud dropped to his knees in sheer exhaustion as the adrenaline in his system ebbed, leaving his body feeling watery and weak.Driving the tip of his sword into the floor of the lab, he rested his forehead against the hilt, the cool metal soothing his overheated skin.Tifa and the others were lying in a tangled heap on top of the hatch, gasping for air as they let the silence cleanse them of their fear.Reno was sitting on the floor of the lab next to the snake's severed tongue, oblivious to the blood staining his face and hands.His head was lowered, and his hair was in such wild disarray, clinging to the sides of his scarred cheeks so that Cloud couldn't tell whether there were streaks of blood or strands of hair plastered to his pale face.His sweat-soaked chest heaved for breath, the air whooshing in and out of his lungs so raggedly that Cloud was afraid the Turk was going to faint on them.

But in turned out that Reno was the first to recover from their ordeal.

Slowly, he lifted his bloodstained face and said flatly, "Guys?Can we get the hell outta here now?"

And Cloud was no one to argue.

* * * * * * * * * *

_Author's Note:You know "The Midgar Nightmare" was just supposed to be one chapter? I need to stop writing so much!Anyways, don't worry!The next chapter is all Yuffie and Vincent!^_^Comments always welcome!_


	20. Messenger Who Comes From the Dark

Messenger Who Comes From the Dark 

**_Messenger Who Comes From the Dark _**

_"And of course you would know about being stupid."Vincent Valentine_

_ _

_But you, you're not allowed_

_You're uninvited_

_Unfortunate slight_

_Like any uncharted territory _

_I must seem greatly intriguing_

_You speak of my love like_

_You have experienced it like mine before_

_But this is not allowed_

_You're uninvited_

_Unfortunate slight_

_I don't think you unworthy_

_But I need a moment to deliberate_

_ _

_"Uninvited"_

_Alanis Morisette_

Fa-Li watched Titus' leather-clad back tiredly as she followed him down yet another infernal alleyway.It seemed they'd been around Midgar five times over, what with all the walking she had been forced to endure.She wasn't used to so much exercise, and her heels were killing her.She had given up keeping track of their path a long time ago and had surrendered just to watching the raindrops course down the back of Titus' leather jacket like a thousand tears from a pair of unseen eyes.Looking at all those poor little raindrops, Fa-Li was reminded of the very last time she had cried real tears of joy or sorrow.It had been quite a long time ago, actually, back when she could actually say that she still lived something remotely resembling a normal life, even if it had been in the slums Midgar.

But that life was now forever unattainable to her.She could never go back, and after all that had happened that fateful night so many years ago, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to go back.

Fa-Li was jolted out of her unusually contemplative thoughts when Titus suddenly stopped walking and leaned against the gray brick wall behind him, those beautiful luminescent eyes of his sliding shut in an expression that she had come to loathe.He could stay like that for hours on end, listening to whatever the hell he was listening to, apparently finding it more interesting than her presence.

Well, this time she wasn't going to let him go without a little arguing."Why did you stop, honey?" she asked him, staring at his darkness-cloaked profile and wishing that she could see the face underneath the ski mask.Titus was such a tragically handsome man.In her life, Fa-Li had only seen one other man whose looks rivaled Titus', and that man she could never face again…

"Waiting," Titus replied to her earlier question.

Fa-Li blinked."For the girl?"

"Who else?"

She scowled."No need to get all huffy.What makes you think the girl will come this way?"

"This is the President of Neo-Shinra's office building.This is where she and Valentine were headed, remember?"

Fa-Li repressed the urge to shudder as she recalled instead where President Reeve was at the moment – shackled in a dungeon in the Master's lair, swathed completely in those horrible green mists…

She shook the memory away and said, "But this place has a back door.They'll probably go through there."

"No, they won't," Titus said calmly.

"Why not?"

"Because I locked that door."

"Oh," Fa-Li said, feeling like an idiot.Titus seemed to be an expert a making her feel that way.That was probably one of the reasons their little relationship hadn't worked out.Titus was always so different from the other men she had been with…

"You think of everything, don't you, Titus?" she suddenly said with a sigh, leaning against the wall next to him.She felt so tired all of a sudden.

Titus opened his eyes and stared at her, surprised that she had actually called him by his real name instead of "honey" or "baby", as was her habit to do.He found her face completely devoid of anything resembling the promiscuous woman she had become.Instead, all he saw was a deep sorrow etched in the lines of her beautiful face, as if the rain had washed away the outer layers of her personality and brought this tormented, melancholy creature into the light for the first time in years.

He turned away, refusing to become entranced with her beauty again."Valentine might be with her," he clipped, eyes watching the area in front of the lobby doors relentlessly."If that's the case, I'll distract him while you get the girl."

"Fine," Fa-Li said quietly."I understand."

* * * * * * * * * *

"Yuffie, I believe that stop sign was there for a reason," Vincent commented after the young girl had run her third one in a row.

"What stop sign, Vinnie?" she asked cheerfully, keeping her eyes on the road.

"Never mind," Vincent replied, folding his arms across his chest.

Yuffie glanced out of the corner of her eye at the man in the passenger seat.He had barely said anything to her the entire journey, and any attempt at idle conversation made by her was usually answered with silence or a one-word reply.She was grateful that Vincent had been kind enough to let her drive, but his constant silence was making her edgy.

"You're not in a very chatty mood today, are you, Vinnie?" she asked lightly while she stopped at a red light.

"When am I ever, Yuffie?" he countered, staring out of the rain-streaked windshield and not even looking at her. 

Yuffie laughed, albeit a little nervously."Never."

And so ended that conversation.

Resisting the urge to sigh, Yuffie forced herself to look away from Vincent's tragic profile and focus on driving.But it wasn't easy.Vincent was radiating even more dark energy than usual, and it was making her nervous and agitated, not a good thing while one is driving.She was tempted to ask him what was wrong, but she knew that she would get no response from the stoic man across the car from her.Yuffie was pretty sure she wouldn't understand even if Vincent was willing to explain to her what was wrong.The man was just so complex and darkly mysterious that it often left her feeling overwhelmed just by listening to the sounds of his silence filling the air.Maybe one day, she would be able to interpret the language that his silences spoke, but for now, she had no other choice than to listen and wish for the day that she would be able to see the man that was surely hiding behind Vincent's mask of ice.

"Yuffie," Vincent said suddenly.

The girl turned to him with wide gray eyes."He speaks!" she declared with a grin.

Vincent ignored her."Get in the turning lane," he ordered."This is supposed to be our turn."

Yuffie looked at the road in front of her and noticed her blunder.She was almost passed her turn, and she still had yet to get in the turning lane!Damn.Oh well…who needed turning lanes ANYWAYS?!

"Hold on Vinnie!" Yuffie warned, just before throwing the wheel hard to the left, cutting clear across the turning lane and the other two lanes of traffic without even so much as a signal to warn the other drivers.Their rented car fishtailed, almost slamming into a lamppost on the corner before righting itself and continuing down the alley Yuffie would have missed if it hadn't been for her mad driving skills.

She grinned at her companion smugly, knowing that he would be fuming."Pretty cool, huh, Vinnie?" she asked cheerfully."I'm a pretty damn good driver, aren't I?"

Vincent glared at her from underneath the locks of ebony hair that had snaked into his eyes."No," was all he said, then added, just for overkill, "I don't think you're ever going to get your license if you continue pulling maneuvers like that."

Yuffie just smiled and continued speeding down the rain-soaked street, the tires shooting up humongous waves of water as she plowed through puddles the size of small swimming pools."Aw, Vinnie!" she declared."You're such a stick in the mud!Lighten up a little bit, my bestest buddy ol' pal!"

Vincent folded his arms across his chest and stared forward again."Now is not the time to be fooling around," he deadpanned."We are in a very serious situation here, Yuffie."

"Gawd!Gimme a break, Vincent!You know Cloud just sent us off on another crappy mission!He knows the Running Man isn't going to show up again at Reeve's office!No one is that stupid!"

"And of course you would know about being stupid."

_ _

_What?!Oh, I KNOW he just didn't…_

Yuffie's eyes practically bugged out of her head as she glared daggers at her stoic comrade."Vinnie!" she shrieked."That was mean and cruel!Take it back!You're developing a very nasty personality, young man!"

_ _

_Great…I sound like my dad now!_

Vincent turned to her with some strange emotion flickering in his eyes."I'm learning from an expert," he said calmly, one corner of his mouth curling up in what suspiciously looked to be a smile.

Yuffie was too pissed-off to care, though."If that was joke, it was SO NOT FUNNY!!!!!" she yelled at him, narrowing her eyes into slits.

Vincent looked like he was about to reply, but his crimson eyes suddenly flicked toward the windshield.They widened."Yuffie!" he said sharply.

The young girl quickly shifted her gaze to the front of the car to find herself on a collision course with a brick wall!She shrieked loudly, more out of surprise than fear, and quickly punched the brakes, feeling the pedal shake underneath her boot as the anti-lock brake system kicked in.She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, expecting an explosive impact to end her life in one huge fireball of pain.

Instead, all she felt was a slight bump as the rentAL car came to a squealing stop.

_ _

_What the hell?_ Yuffie thought in bafflement as she opened one eye, then the other, expecting to find herself floating on a huge fluffy cloud and approaching the golden Gates of Heaven with a not-so-amused Vincent Valentine next to her.Instead, all she saw was the brick wall, which was staring at her mockingly, its lines of cement appearing to be turned up in an amused grin.

"Hey!" Yuffie cried happily."I didn't hit the wall!"

"Just the curb," Vincent muttered grumpily.

Yuffie made a face at him."You say that like it's a bad thing, Vinnie!At least we're not dead."

"Whatever," Vincent clipped. He suddenly opened his car door and stepped out into the rain.

_ _

_He's leaving?!Crap!Was it something I said?_

"Vincent!" Yuffie cried, putting the car into "Park.""Where are you going?!"

Vincent leaned back into the car and said, "We're here."Then he slammed the door.

For a moment, Yuffie thought Vincent might have hit his head on the dashboard or something.Then she opened her door and saw that the building she had almost put a hole in was actually Reeve's office, only from the back.She was used to going through the lobby area.

Feeling like a total idiot, Yuffie grabbed her Conformer from the backseat and slammed the door behind her, rushing after Vincent in the rain.He was already halfway across the parking lot, his loose ponytail hanging like a rope of smoldering blue-black fire against his borrowed shirt.Making a face at his back for not waiting up for her, Yuffie wrapped her arms around herself and hunched her shoulders to protect herself from rain, not that it helped any.She was drenched for what felt like the thousandth time in the past two days by the time she reached the back door.

To her surprise, she found an equally soaked Vincent waiting there for her, completely undaunted by the thick strands of jet black hair that had snaked into his eyes, trying their hardest to dim the intensity in the crimson orbs.

"Gee, thanks for waiting, Vinnie," she told him sarcastically even though she was happy to see him there."You're a pal."

"The door is locked," he deadpanned, brushing past her and back into the rain.

"What?!" Yuffie cried, watching dumbly as he began splashing through puddles in the parking lost, his head turned upwards as he appeared to examine the upper floors of the building.

Though she was pretty sure that Vincent was telling the truth, Yuffie stomped over (almost slipping three times) to the back door and gripped the doorknob with her slippery hands.She yanked hard, but nothing happened.The damn door just stayed stupidly shut, making little squeaking noises of laughter as it did so.

"Damn it!" Yuffie cursed angrily as she gave the door a good, stuff kick with her boot, happy to see that she had left behind a scuff mark on the paint.It served the damn thing right!How dare it be locked on such a miserable day?

_ _

_Great,_ Yuffie thought grumpily, turning her back on the unmoving door._Now I have to go BACK into the goddamn rain…_

"Vincent!" she called, realizing that he was a ways along the side of the building and staring up at something.She held her Conformer over her head like an umbrella and splashed through a million and one puddles to reach his side.

"What's up, Vinnie?" she asked him, not willing to lift her face into the stinging rain to see what he was staring at.

"That window," he deadpanned."We're going up that way."

Yuffie's eyes widened incredulously.She removed her Conformer from the top of her head and shifted her gaze to see that Vincent's window was at least three floors above their heads and reachable only by a serious of soggy wooden crates that had been stacked haphazardly up against the wall, balanced precariously on top of one another.

She stared at Vincent's strong-boned profile and watched the rain drip down his face before laughing and saying, "Hahaha!That was a funny joke, Vinnie!Now let's go around the front and through the lobby like normal people would do!"She pointed to her right."See!There's an alley we can take around the building and go to the front and everything will be just peachy keen!"

Crimson eyes turned away from the window and focused on her face."We're going through the window," Vincent said firmly.

A tide of stormy anger began to rise in Yuffie's gray eyes."No, we're not," she growled."Do you see how high up that is?!I'm not going up there!"

"We'll use the crates."

Yuffie cast a dubious look at the flimsy-looking wooden boxes."Those hunks of crap don't look like that could support _Marlene_, much less you or me!"

"They'll do just fine," Vincent insisted.

Though something in her mind was telling her that Vincent wasn't going to give in this time, Yuffie kept on fighting him."If you want to crawl through a window so goddamn bad, there are plenty on the ground level near the lobby doors!"

"The Running Man will be expecting us to enter from the front," Vincent said rationally."He'll be waiting there."

"No, he won't!" Yuffie counterattacked, refusing to see the logic."That's dumb, Vinnie!"

Something akin to annoyance flashed across Vincent's usually calm face, and when he spoke, Yuffie thought she heard impatience in his voice."Yuffie, why don't you listen to reason for once?"

Yuffie's scowled deepened."Don't patronize me!" she cried, glaring up at him angrily."What you're saying makes no sense!It's irrational!"

"No," Vincent said firmly, eyes glittering down at her."The way you're behaving is irrational.And immature.You're about to throw a hissy fit just because things aren't going your way.You're seventeen years old, Yuffie.Act your age."

Without another word, he whirled away from her and began to climb on the first crate.

Yuffie was hurt.Hurt and angry.No, pissed-off was more like it.For some reason, Vincent's words were like stakes being shoved in her heart, but instead of releasing a flood of tears, they inundated her senses with red-hot rage.

"Damn you, Vincent Orion Valentine!" she suddenly screamed at him as he continued to climb methodically from crate to crate like he hadn't a care in the world.Even her outburst had no effect on him.He didn't even ask her where she had learned his middle name from. 

"I'm not going up that way!" she continued yelling, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

Vincent ignored her, using his strong arms to pull himself up to the next level, muscles of his back flexing underneath his black shirt, which had been plastered to his skin by the rain.

Yuffie was so furious she thought she would explode."Fine then!" she screamed as loud as she could, resisting the urge to throw her Conformer at him if she wasn't so sure he would shoot it out of the air and ruin it."You go up your goddamn window!I'm going around the front!"

She whirled on her heel and began to stride away in a rage, but then she turned back and said, for good measure, "I hope you're happy, Vincent!You managed to get rid of me!"

Not waiting to see if she had managed to get any reaction out of him, Yuffie spun around and ran off, Conformer in her hand and her hair plastered to the sides of her face.She didn't know why she was running.All she knew was that she wanted to get away from Vincent.So through the puddles she ran, and didn't stop running until she had turned off into the alley than ran along side the office building, a long narrow pathway with two straight gouges etched permanently into the pavement by the tires of vehicles that liked to take the easy way from the front of the building to the back.Stupid lazy people.Yuffie hated lazy people, even thought Barret was constantly telling her that she was the dictionary definition of the word.

_ _

_God, I'm so mad!I feel…I feel…_

She felt like crying, and she HATED feeling that way.She wasn't a big baby, bawling just because something hadn't gone her way…argh!Why did she even give a damn what stupid Vincent said?!His opinion didn't matter to her at all!

_ _

_Yet, here you are,_ a cruel voice taunted her._About to cry because a man hurt your feelings.You feel rejected, don't you, Yuffie dear?You'll always be nothing more than a little, immature girl to him.A little brat…_

"Shut up!" Yuffie cursed, putting all her frustration behind that scream as she leapt up high in the air and crashed down into a puddle, ignoring the water splashing her already drenched legs.

She remained standing in the puddle for a few moments, letting water seep into her boots as her rage began to trickle away slowly like the raindrops racing down her skin.Then she stomped off, cursing her all too human emotions and the cruel Fate that had bestowed them upon her.Why was she so upset?She shouldn't be upset at all!Why did one man have so much sway over her?She didn't need him!She didn't need any man!And she didn't want one!She had her materia and she had her life!And as soon as they found stupid-ass Reeve, she was gonna pack up and leave stupid-ass Vincent and the others…behind…yeah…whatever…

She knew that she didn't want to leave any of them, especially Vincent, behind.

It didn't take long for Yuffie's angry stomps to turn to depressed, contemplative trudges.Water sloshed in her boots and seeped in between her toes, but she neither noticed nor cared.The fires of fury dissipated from her gray eyes, leaving behind stormy pensiveness that shone even through the chocolate brown locks of waterlogged hair that had fallen into her eyes.Her thoughts were a million miles away as she rounded the corner and started to advance towards the doors of the lobby.

_ _

_Why do I even bother having friends?_ she wondered as dragged her feet through another puddle, the double doors of Reeve's main office building looming in front of her._I never had any before I met Cloud and the others.All they do is hold you back and make you do and think things that you normally wouldn't think under any other kind of…_

Her train of thought was abruptly snapped when her eyes absently flicked in the direction of the alley on the right side of the building.Yuffie was later to wonder if Fate or chance had guided her gaze to that shadow-filled alley, but in any case, she saw the figure, swathed in darkness though it was, watching her from the alleyway like a hungry wolf.

Dark leather clothes soaked and glittering with wet rain.Black ski mask.Gloved fingers curled almost delicately around the corner of the wall, miniature pillars of darkness against the gray building.It was the Running Man…

_ _

_"The Running Man will be expecting us to enter from the front.He'll be waiting there."_

_ _

_"No, he won't!That's dumb, Vinnie!"_

_ _

_Vincent_, Yuffie thought, wishing for nothing more to see him at that moment, if only to say goodbye._You were right.I'm…I'm sorry…Vincent…_

"Running Man," she whispered, unable to take eyes off of the figure in the alley.

He was waiting for her.Waiting to take her back to the place with the sea water and the horrible light that made her afraid.Back to the Faceless Men that never died and the things that were watching her in the cargo hold.No!She was never going back to that place!Never!

"I won't go back!" Yuffie cried as panic and rage took hold of her at the same time.She scarcely knew what she was doing when she pulled back her arm and let her Conformer fly from her fingers, the shuriken slicing easily through the rain on a collision course with the ominous figure responsible for Reeve's disappearance.

Only when her weapon struck the spot where the Running Man had been standing, her quarry was no longer there.The Conformer whizzed past the wall and started to return to its owner, but before she knew what was happening, Yuffie sensed, rather than saw, a dark blur approaching from her right side with a speed that even Vincent couldn't hope to match.

Yuffie barely had time to scream before she felt an unbelievably powerful force slam into her side, stealing her breath from her lungs and sending her on a painful flight to the pavement five feet away.Pain wracked her body like wildfire dancing across her delicate nerve endings, but years of training kicked in and she was on her feet in a matter of seconds, adrenaline pumping through her system and her muscles locked for another attack.

The Running Man stood in the spot she had been standing in seconds earlier, her Conformer held loosely in one of his gloved hands and his eyes – which were some indiscernible glittering color – staring intensely at her from his ski mask.He did say anything, not so much as a threat, or an evil diabolical, "Mwahahaha!I have you now!"He just stood there in the rain.Like a big fat dork.

"Come on, you bastard!" Yuffie taunted, though she was in no position to be doing so."Show me what you got!"

He didn't move.

Yuffie flung her bangs out of her eyes and ignored the raging pain in her side."Tell me where Reeve is!" she ordered, raising her fists to show him just how goddamn serious she was.

The Running Man wasn't impressed.He suddenly dropped her precious Conformer on the pavement and rushed at her.Only this time, his attack was a lot slower, and Yuffie was actually able to track his movements as he approached her.She could see his boots slapping the wet pavement and the way his right hand suddenly shot out to the side, fingers stiff as boards.Yuffie felt an instantaneous chill go down her spine as she saw the way his fingers were locked.

_ _

_He's going for one of my pressure points.I know that stance!That means I'd better move my ass!_

Yuffie managed to fling herself up and out of the way, executing a neat flip through the air just as she felt a humongous whoosh of wind as the Running Man passed beneath her.She no longer felt neither the rain nor the pain in her side as she twisted her body so that she landed on the wet pavement in a crouching position, her battle-darkened eyes riveted on the Running Man.

Before the ominous man could turn around and attack her again, Yuffie raised her right arm, not in self-defense, but so that her opponent could see the glittering green materia sheathed in her Crystal Bangle.She wanted him to be afraid of what she was about to do.

"Bolt 3!!" she screamed in a rage, raising her arms towards the stormy sky and focusing all her thoughts on the Mastered Lightening materia in her armor.

Instantly the angry clouds and dark skies complied with her wishes and sent an enormous bolt of white-hot lightening streaming down to earth to strike the figure of the Running Man.

And as the magic engulfed her opponent in blinding white light, Yuffie made a decision she was to regret the rest of her life.Suddenly becoming aware of the fact that the Conformer was lying only a few feet behind her, Yuffie figured she had enough time to reach it before the Running Man could recover from the Bolt 3 attack.Without even thinking twice, she twisted her body and lunged for her weapon.

But just as her fingers touched its ornamental surface and Yuffie was starting to think that victory would be hers, she became aware of _another_ dark clad figure rushing to her from the left, some sort of weapon flashing in its hand.

_ _

_There's two of them!_ she realized, a moment too late.

Something slammed into the side of her head, creating a burst of agony that had no equal in the entire universe.Despite the life she lived, Yuffie had never been knocked unconscious by a physical blow before; she was too quick for most opponents.Magic had always been her weak point.Good 'ol Sephy's Super Nova had knocked her flat on her ass, and Jenova-Life's Aqualung had sent her flying top over teakettle into darkness, but never before had she been sent into oblivion by a single, physical attack.

Well, Yuffie learned right then and there that there was a first time for everything.

Darkness threatened to take her under as she felt her body crumple to the pavement, the Conformer inches away from her numb fingertips.She was fighting to keep her heavy eyelids from closing eternally when she suddenly felt someone dig a boot into her aching side and flip her over so that she was facing skyward, eyes roving over a feminine figure that she could barely see, skin being hit by raindrops that she barely felt, her mind thinking thoughts that she never would have thought before…

_ _

_Please, Running Man,_ she pleaded silently as she saw the figure above her abruptly disappear, only to be replaced with the familiar figure of Reeve's kidnapper._Have mercy on me.I want to see my friends again.I want to see Vincent again.I have to tell him I'm sorry, sorry that I doubted his knowledge, sorry that I was wrong.I want to see Vincent again…_

But if the Running Man had any way of hearing her thoughts, he had no intention of complying with final wishes of Yuffie Pristina Kisaragi.Through the darkness clouding her vision, Yuffie vaguely saw him kneel at her side, his darkness-cloaked face inches from hers and as cold and distant as that of a judge in Purgatory.Suddenly, she realized what color his eyes were, and that she had seen them somewhere before.

"Aeris?" she whispered, her pupils dilating and contracting as the darkness threatening to swallow her grew more demanding.

The Running Man blinked in surprise and shock.Blinked those heartbreakingly familiar eyes.

_ _

_Green eyes, _she thought giddily._Pretty green eyes.The Running Man has green eyes._

Those were her last coherent thoughts before the darkness took her under.

* * * * * * * * * *

_Author's Note: Finally!Catalina actually wrote a short chapter!^^_


	21. Gone Up In Flames

Gone Up in Flames

**_Gone Up in Flames_**

_"I'm the man here, not you, goddammit!"Cid Highwind_

_ _

_Everybody needs a human touch.   
I can't live without it,   
It means too much to me.   
Everybody needs one true friend,   
Someone who'll be there 'til the very end.   
And absolutely everybody breathes,   
And everybody, everybody bleeds.   
We're no different,   
We're all the same,   
Players in the game.___

_ _

_"Absolutely Everybody"_

_Vanessa Amorosi   
  
_

"What the hell was the matter with you?!" Barret raged, pounding his fists on the bar table with such force that everyone in the bar, even Reno, couldn't help but wince as the wood creaked meekly in protest of the abuse it was receiving. 

"You was supposed to take care of her!" Barret continued, leaning his intimidating bulk over the table so he could peer down into the face of his victim.

Vincent didn't reply.He sat motionless in the wooden chair, hands clasped rigidly in his lap and garnet eyes riveted on the wooden table in front of him.Most of his ebony hair had come out of its clasp to tumble about his face like a shroud, clinging to his pale cheeks and snaking into his red eyes.Though it appeared as if he was completely oblivious to the intimidating, angry bulk of Barret Wallace not a foot in front of him, the others could tell from the strained set of his mouth and the bunched muscles of his shoulders that Vincent wasn't very comfortable.

"Barret," Tifa spoke up softly from her place at the bar."Leave him alone, please.I think he knows what he did wrong."

"I ain't done with him!" the large man exclaimed, never removing his angry gaze from Vincent's emotionless face.

Vincent didn't respond.

"What was you doing?" Barret continued, leaning all his weight on the table so that he was eye level with Vincent."Huh?!Where the hell were you when she was being hauled off?!"

Silence, except for the mighty laughter of the thunder outside.

"Answer me, damn you!" Barret roared.

"These questions do not require answers," Vincent deadpanned, no trace of emotion in his voice.

"The hell they don't!" Barret retorted."Why did you leave her side?!"

"As I told you before," Vincent replied, not lifting his eyes, "she stalked off in a rage."

"And you didn't go after her?!"

"I saw no need to."

Barret's eyes widened in anger, and everyone saw his jaw bulge as he clenched his teeth."Saw no need to??!!" he raged, slamming both of his fists right in front of Vincent, who didn't even flinch."Yuffie's gone, you heartless bastard!And all you can do is sit here on your ass and act like you don't give a shit what's happening!"

"And what if I don't?" Vincent said coolly, eyes still riveted on the tabletop.

Barret faltered."What?!" he asked incredulously.

"What…if…I…don't…care?" Vincent repeated slowly."What if I just want to leave right now and leave you to find Yuffie and Reeve all on your own?"

For a moment, utter and total silence hung in the bar as Barret floundered for words.Everyone had heard the subtle threat in Vincent's words: Either you leave me the hell alone, or I'm outta here.

From his seat next to the rain-streaked window, Reno let a bitter smile curl one corner of his mouth._I can see why this guy used to be a Turk,_ he thought._He's cold, callous, and boy, does he ever have guts…_

Reno's thoughts of admiration were abruptly cut off when Barret finally exploded."Leave??!!" he roared, the sheer volume of his voice causing some of the shot glasses to shake."The hell you talkin' about?!Leave?!"

"My presence here seems to cause many problems," Vincent responded flatly."If you seem to think that all I can do is lose people, then wouldn't you all be better off if I was gone?"

"All you CAN do is lose people!" Barret yelled.

_ _

_Crap…I think he's going to say something he's gonna regret,_ Reno suddenly thought.

"Barret, back off!" Cloud suddenly said sharply, apparently sensing the same thing Reno was.

But Barret was too far gone into rage to hear anyone."You been losing people ever since that time in Nibelheim with that Luc—"

"Silence!" Vincent suddenly roared, getting to his feet so quickly that he knocked his chair over.The piece of wooden furniture clattered to the floor with a cry of defeat, like an animal drawing its legs up in meek cowardice, responding to a sudden danger that hadn't been present seconds before.

As everyone in the bar watched in shocked silence, a suddenly very animated Vincent leaned forward and pressed his palms flat against the wooden table, metallic claw digging ruthlessly into the wood and leaving five gouge marks that would remain there long after everyone had departed.All his motion unsettled the hair tie's tenacious hold on his hair, and it fell from the ebony strands with the same defeated countenance with which the chair had plummeted to the floor.Unbound, Vincent's midnight black hair, damp though it was, spilled around his shoulders, some of the shorter strands swooping forward to frame a face that had suddenly gone as cold as primal ice.These same dark locks offset a pair of crimson eyes, usually cool and distant, that were now filled with what appeared to be the fires of Hell itself.

"I am well aware of my own miserable failures," Vincent seethed angrily, eyes boring into the stunned Barret with barely contained rage as everyone shifted nervously."I will not, however," Vincent continued coldly, "stand here and listen to you remind of them in such an offhand, careless fashion.They are my sins to suffer and live with for all eternity, and you are NO ONE to condemn me for them.I won't have it…"

Slowly, as his voice trailed off, Vincent's face darkened further, if such a thing was possible.His brows drew down low over his eyes, accenting an age-old rage in the depths of the crimson irises.Perhaps a rage that was not his own.

"And if you EVER dare to speak her name to me again," Vincent threatened."I shall show you the reason why I have come to call myself a monster…"

Silence, horrible and complete, descended in the wake of this threat.Barret just stood rooted to the floor in stunned silence, his eyes wide as he slowly burned in the intensity of Vincent's blood-red glare.As for Vincent, he was a demon frozen in time, never moving from his position – hands palm down on the table, claw digging into the wood, garnet eyes virtually glowing with rage, face cold and menacing.

And at that moment, as thunder crashed dramatically outside and lightening illuminated the room with its ghastly glow, everyone believed that Vincent was well deserving of the title "monster."

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Tifa stirred boldly, but with a certain unobtrusiveness that made approaching the two men easier.

"Barret," she said softly, walking up to the large man slowly, her burgundy eyes darting every now and then to where Vincent was still leaning over the table menacingly.It was clear she was a bit scared of Vincent at the moment.Hell, everyone probably was.

Carefully, Tifa grabbed Barret's normal arm and tugged on it gently, trying to get him to tear his gaze away from Vincent's crimson stare."Why don't you go help Cid tune up Cait?" she suggested, eyes on Barret's face."I'm sure he could use your help, Barret."

Barret blinked, and his gaze almost drifted away from Vincent's glare, but it seemed he couldn't disengage himself from the staring contest."S-Sure, Tifa," he stammered."I-I'll go."

But he didn't move.Silently, Vincent's dark stare forbade such a blasphemy.

That's when Red suddenly slunk out of the corner he had been seated in, his claws clicking loudly on the hardwood floor as he kept himself low to the ground, not wanting to attract Vincent's attention.He walked up to where Barret was standing and nudged him in the knee hard enough to almost knock the big man off balance.

In surprise, Barret's gaze slipped away from the tenacious hold of Vincent's glare and dropped down to the fiery lion-like creature at his feet.

"Let's go, Barret," Red ordered gruffly, striding pointedly past him and heading towards the hallway that led to the rest of the first floor of the bar.

"Right," Barret muttered, all but running after his friend, careful not to raise his gaze for fear of being snared by the net of Vincent's fury again.

But he didn't have anything to worry about.Vincent had already dropped his gaze to the table the moment Barret's eyes had been torn away from his.Without a victim to torment, his internal demons had forsaken the crimson eyes they had been using as a channel for all their ghastly voices and hellish screeches.Now, there was no one left to listen to their dark prophecies of doom and despair but their host body, Vincent Valentine, who was once again alone with the demons of his past even though he was in a room filled with the people he had come to call friends.

For a while no one in the room moved, as if afraid they would interrupt the delicate balance of the isolating net Vincent was weaving around himself to shut his demons off from the world.But then Tifa suddenly strode determinedly around the table over to Vincent's side and picked up the fallen hair clasp from the floor.Heedless of any instability she might have sensed in Vincent's heart and mind, she carefully gathered his thick hair in her graceful hands and pulled it back from his face, securing it with the hair clasp into a loose ponytail similar to the one he had had that morning before everything had gone up in flames.

"Thank you," Vincent said quietly as Tifa stepped back.Everyone relaxed a little to hear all the rage was gone from his voice, but the promise of violence still hung in the air like a foul musk, and everyone knew it, scented it, felt it awaken danger sensors deep within their souls, and so they said nothing to ease whatever torment Vincent may have been experiencing at the moment.For what could they say?What could they do?

Everyone knew that any attempt at solace would be rejected with the same cool and cold with which Vincent always deflected every human emotion directed toward him.What could anyone say to a man who wished for nothing more than to be alone with his pain?

Nothing, that's what.

And nothing was what they said as Vincent silently brushed past Tifa and ascended the stairs just as soundlessly, like a weeping devil retreating to its cold hell once again.No one said anything, or moved to stop him, but the words were there in the air, swirling around him, and they could only hope that he might have heard them in the farthest reaches of his heart, where he was still human…

_ _

_We forgive you, Vincent,_ the winds whispered to him._We know your pain, and we are here for you.Always…_

Reno watched the melancholy looks on everyone's faces as they heard Vincent's door shut softly upstairs.Tifa picked up the chair Vincent had knocked over in his anger and seated herself in it stiffly, gripping the edge of the table with trembling hands.Cloud hesitated a moment, then slid off of his bar stool and came up behind the brunette, putting his gloved hands on her shoulders and squeezing gently.Seated across the room from Reno, Elena sighed sadly and lowered her head, tangled blond hair hiding her face.Beside her, Rude placed one of his large hands on her shoulder in a rare gesture of solace.Reno couldn't see the expression behind Rude's dark sunglasses, but he could easily sense that what had just gone down had disturbed his tall friend.

_ _

_We're falling apart,_ Reno thought bitterly, lying his head against the cold glass of the window and feeling the tiny vibrations as the rain struck the other side, so close to his face yet so far._Piece by fucking piece, we're falling apart.Reeve's gone.Yuffie's gone.Soon Valentine will leave.We don't even know who our goddamn enemy is yet, and they're already beating the crap out of us…_

Sighing softly, Reno closed his eyes and allowed the world around him, people and all, to fade into nothing.He vaguely heard Cloud saying something about the sewers and maps and Rude and Elena replying with some answer or another, but these otherworldly phrases did not penetrate his consciousness.

Lightening split the dark night sky over Kalm, bathing the small town in its unholy illumination, tracing the outlines of shops whose doors had been forced to close due to danger of flooding.Several people had abandoned their homes in search of higher grounds, and Reno knew that when they returned, they were probably going to find all their belongings ruined by the floodwaters that were threatening to swallow Kalm. 

What a waste.What a goddamn waste.

As Reno's aquamarine eyes traced the ill-fated paths of the raindrops plummeting through the night air, he felt his thoughts slipping back to the terrifying nightmare in Midgar that they had just experienced.Once again, he was traveling in the sewers, seeing the snake, and feeling the terror that froze the blood in his veins.And once again, he felt the humiliation afterwards; he was utterly and completely ashamed of his terror.Reno of the Turks…afraid of snakes?Afraid of anything?Reno had convinced himself that he had no shame, but the events that had occurred just a few hours ago had made him realize that he was dead wrong. His old fear of anything that slithered and hissed was still there, buried in his past and rearing its ugly head every now and then to torment him.

_ _

_Damn you, Reno,_ he told himself harshly._All you are is a goddamn wuss.You nearly killed Cloud because you were being a coward.All because of some phantom from your past has returned to haunt you…_

Pain suddenly tightened his throat, and his heart throbbed in agony in his chest.Of course, he knew which phantom had returned bearing all his old fears, his old insecurities, his old life before Tseng had rescued him from his personal hell and brought him to work for Shinra. 

All of it – all of this pain, the pang in his heart, the tears in his eyes, the tightening in his throat, the trembling in his murderous hands, could be attributed and linked back to one and only one name.

Did he dare speak it?No way in hell.The voice of the man that had once whispered her name was long dead, and now Reno of the Turks could only speak her name in his heart.

_ _

_Mika…it's you…all you, love… _

Then he closed his eyes, not wanting to see the raindrops anymore.Everyone one of them was now wearing her face.

* * * * * * * * *

"Owwww!!That hurt, Cid!"

Cid scowled deeply at Cait."Shut up your face!" he snapped, talking around his cigarette."You're lucky that I'm kind enough to fix your sorry ass!"

The robotic cat huffed, planting his gloved paws on the place where his hips would have been if he had been real."It's not my fault you and Barret took me out into the rain and my circuits got fried!You two should know that I'm delicate!"

"Delicate my foot," Cid muttered distractedly as he reconnected another wire in the pink moogle, trying to ignore the bits of stuffing scratching his arms and the way-too-talkative form of Cait Sith sitting on the moogle, right above Cid's head.

"You've been through tougher things than rain," Cid continued as Cait watched what he was doing with interest."If you can help beat that demented Sephiroth in the North Crater, you can handle a little bit of rain."

"It's because you forgot to close my circuit board when we left the storage room!" Cait told Cid.

Cid gave the robotic cat a withering glare."You so damn ungrateful!" he exclaimed."I brought you back to life instead of leaving you to collect dust in that storage room!And all you can do is bitch about how we took you out into the rain!You should be thanking me!I'm the man here, not you, goddammit!I OWN you!You belong to ME!!You should bow before me and—" 

"I was under the impression that dictatorships had been overthrown years ago," a gravelly voice said dryly.

Cid whirled around and glared at Red as the lion-like beast and Barret strode into the garage."I'm tryin' to keep this guy in his place!" Cid protested, gesturing up to Cait, who stuck his tongue out at Cid."You're not helping the situation!"

"Cid's trying to control me!" Cait whined to Red.

Cid wagged a pair of pliers in the robotic cat's face."I got the power here!" he declared."You belong to Cid Jericho Highwind right now and you better show some goddamn respect!"

Cait was about to say something in return when he suddenly noticed Barret standing still in the middle of the garage, right next to the buggy.

"Hey, what's wrong with you, Barret?" he asked worriedly, hopping to his booted feet, not at all frightened of tumbling off the top of the moogle.

Cid peered around the stuffed pink mog and saw that Barret's eyes were wide and staring.His brow creased."Old geezer!What's up with you?You look like you just seen a goddamn ghost or something."

"He had a close encounter with an angry Vincent," Red explained calmly, easing his bruised body down carefully a few feet away from where Cid was working on Cait Sith.

Cid's blue eyes widened, and he stood up to stare at Barret incredulously."You pissed off Vincent?!" he demanded.

Barret nodded blankly."Uh-huh."

"Why the hell did you go and do a stupid-ass thing like that?" Cid all but yelled, gesturing wildly with his hands and nearly knocking Cait off of the moogle.

Barret scowled, Cid's accusing words thawing out the fear that Vincent's blood-red stare had frozen his heart with."Whatever, ya old fart!" he told Cid, leaning against the hood of the buggy."I didn't do it on purpose…"

Cid snorted and crouched on the floor to resume his work on the stuffed moogle's semi-metallic innards."Whatever," he said gruffly."I pity the man who manages to piss off Vincent Valentine."He suddenly hopped to his feet again and wagged his pliers in Barret's direction."No, wait!I DON'T have no pity for ya!You should know better than to go around making Vince mad!What the hell was the matter with you?!"

Barret folded his muscular arms across his chest and turned his face away."I was mad, foo," he snapped."I shouldn't have said what I did, but I did, and it's done…and now I gots to avoid Vincent for a while."

Cid pulled his cigarette from his mouth and expelled a long stream of thoughtful smoke."You _that_ mad that the brat got taken?" he asked, voice as gentle as his natural gruff manner would permit.

Barret snorted condescendingly at the prospect of being worried about Yuffie, but his voice was serious when he said, "Brat ain't got her father to watch out for her while she running around the world like a numbskull so I figure I got to take care of her while he can't."

"She's become another daughter to you," Red observed from his place on the concrete floor.

Barret made a face at the lion-like beast."Whatever.You think what you want to think and I think what I want to think.All I know is that we got to get Yuffie and Reeve back quick.This Running Ass person managed to snatch two – not one, but TWO – people right from under our noses, and I ain't giving up until we get both of 'em back!"

"Amen, brother," Cid murmured, turning his face up to the heavens for a moment before lowering it again.

"I don't believe in a god," Red commented."But I'm with you until the end."

"Hey guuuuuuuyyyysss!" Cait suddenly whined, tugging on Cid's blue flight jacket.

"The hell you want?" the pilot demanded, glaring down the small robotic cat.

"I'm with you, too!" Cait exalted, pumping a small, gloved fist in the air."Now, fix me, darn you!"

* * * * * * * * *

Tifa could only listen to so much rain before it began to gnaw at her mentality.Personally, she found the sound of raindrops against the windows and against the roof rather soothing, but not when she was weary at soul and feeling an empty void in her heart that her two missing friends needed to fill for her to be whole.No, she couldn't listen to the rain when she had been listening to it for the past two nights, knowing that those horrible floodwaters were trying to devour Kalm.All the roads were already flooded, and she knew that it was only a matter of time before the mayor might call for an evacuation of the city, which would only make matters worse for them.

Sighing, Tifa sat up in bed and flung the covers off her legs, lowering her feet to the floor, not at all worried about tripping over things in the dark.She had long ago committed the objects in her room to memory.Grabbing her robe from the back of a chair to cover the shorts and sleeveless shirt she had worn to bed, she wrapped it around herself and quietly opened her bedroom door, peering out into the hallway.

Everyone had long ago gone to bed, worn out after a day that had drained them physically and emotionally.As she closed her door behind her, Tifa could hear Barret's loud snoring from the room at the end of the hall. Strangely enough, it offered her a bit of comfort as she quietly crept past everyone's rooms until she reached the stairwell.

She was just about to place her bare foot on the first step when she suddenly became aware that the door to the room behind her was open, and that the lightening outside the room's single window was lighting up the entire stairwell.

Turning around, she cautiously crept up to the door and peered inside, realizing with a start that she was looking into Vincent's room.After what had happened that evening, she didn't want to see what he might do if he found her peeping into his room and invading his cherished privacy.But as far as she could tell, he wasn't even in his room.The bed was empty, and there was no one seated in the only chair in the room.

For a moment, she experienced a moment of trepidation when she thought that he might have actually left them like he had been subtly threatening to do.But then she saw the Death Penalty resting against the far wall and relaxed.The high-powered rifle was a gift left for Vincent from his lost love, Lucrecia; he never would have gone anywhere without it.

_ _

_I better just close the door,_ Tifa thought._He probably went for a walk or something._

But just as she was putting her hand on the doorknob and preparing to close the door, a shadow next to the window suddenly shifted, and Tifa found herself the focus of a pair of luminescent red eyes.

She let out a startled gasp and jumped away from the door, her hand flying to her chest and feeling her heart beating out of control within its fleshly cage.

"Vincent!" she whisper-screamed, barely remembering to keep her voice down."Good God, you scared me to death!"

He said nothing.His eyes blinked once, but that was all.

"You should know better than to go around scaring people like that," Tifa scolded him, holding onto the doorframe for support.

"Forgive me, Tifa," he said calmly, turning away from her and staring out the window."I assure you that it was not my intention to frighten you."

"It's okay," she said immediately, feeling bad for snapping at him.

_ _

_It must be bad enough, looking the way he does, but what probably makes it worse is when people are constantly screaming every time they lay eyes on him.But red eyes are just so unnerving to stare into…even worse when they're staring AT you…_

"Can…Can I come in?" Tifa found herself asking."I'd like to talk with you, Vincent."

"Do as you wish," Vincent said flatly as lightening flashed outside the window and threw the shadow of his tall figure against the wall on Tifa's left.

"Thank you," she said politely, walking nervously over the threshold and into his bedroom.

She had no idea why she was so cautious about entering his room.It wasn't like she had never been in it before.She had furnished the damn thing, after all, and painted the walls and picked out the kind of bedspread she wanted.Under any normal circumstances, she would have felt right at home, but for some reason, with Vincent inhabiting the room, the air seemed to surge against her with some kind of gothic darkness, infecting the surroundings so that the room around was almost as alien to her as a room in a stranger's house.

"Vincent," Tifa said, breaking the silence."I-I just want to apologize for what Barret said today.He didn't mean it, and I think that he knows he was out of line.He…He didn't mean it," she finished lamely.

"I am not angry with Barret," Vincent said calmly."But what he said was true, and that was most likely what angered me." 

"Oh no, Vincent," Tifa said fervently, walking forward until she was standing next to him in front of the window, staring up at his pale profile."It's not your fault," she told him."But what exactly happened there in Midgar?"

Vincent lowered his head, shorter strands of midnight black hair slinking forward to lie against his cheekbones."It's just as I told you," he said calmly."She and I argued, and she stalked off in a rage."

"Argued about what?" Tifa asked earnestly.

"A petty thing," Vincent replied, and she thought she heard a faint tinge of sadness in his voice."I wanted to enter the office through a window, and she didn't want to.So I started going up my way, and she ran off and went around to the front, where the Running Man was apparently prowling the area."

"And she got caught," Tifa finished, feeling her heart sink as she imagined her young friend being captured by the dark man who had most definitely become their enemy.

"I blame myself," Vincent said, sounding a little disgusted."I should have been more adamant and kept her at my side.Then, none of this would have happened."

"You blame yourself for too many things," Tifa said softly, watching as lightening split the sky over the ocean."Yuffie can be rather difficult at times."

"Yes, but I believed I transgressed unforgivably when I scolded her like a little child."

Tifa glanced at him in surprise."You scolded her for what?"

"For being immature," Vincent replied."I told her to act her age, and to a child who is not used to discipline, that statement didn't go over very well."

"I imagine not," Tifa said quietly, absently tugging on a thread that was dangling off of the seam of her robe."But we're going to get her back.Both her and Reeve."She looked up at Vincent's emotionless profile."Aren't we, Vincent?"

He didn't reply.

Resolve hardening her features, Tifa turned so that she was facing him completely, an almost-scowl on her face."You're going to stay with us, aren't you, Vincent?" she asked softly but not without a certain unmovable steel in her voice.

Lightening split the night again, dancing in his crimson eyes and speaking to her of the dark realities that stood before her, hidden in the fathomless depths of those eyes, if she only dared to look that far.Vincent didn't say anything.

Tifa was just about to repeat her question more forcefully when Vincent suddenly whirled away from the window so quickly that his hair struck her lightly on the arm, whispering across the fabric of her robe as he passed by her without a word, heading towards the door of the bedroom, intending to leave her alone in the dark with her questions.

An irrational rage suddenly gripped Tifa as she stared at his retreating back in the darkness.

_ _

_How can he do that…just walk away?God!It's wrong! It is!_

"And just where do you think you're going?" she demanded, the slither in her voice surprising even her.

Vincent stopped and said without turning, "Out for a walk."

But before he could start moving again, Tifa scrambled to get in front of him.Planting her hands on her hips, her burgundy eyes stared harshly out at him from her pale face, her skin made even lighter by the sporadic streaks of lightening that illuminated the night.

"And where will you go after that, Vincent?" she hissed in a whisper, fearful that if she raised her voice, she would start yelling and not be able to stop."Will you all of a sudden disappear on us and not show your face again for another year?Two years?Huh?!"

Vincent just stared down at her.With the window and the lightening directly behind him, the only thing Tifa could see was those entirely unique blood-red eyes staring down at her with the ghost of some alien emotion flickering in their depths.He didn't reply.

"You're our _friend_, Vincent," Tifa continued, putting all her heart into that one word.Her eyes now shimmered with tears of pain as well as anger."We need you here with us.We need your help, Vincent.We need _you_."

Vincent turned his face away and didn't say anything.

Tifa suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders, ignoring the fact that she had to reach up to do it.She shook him slightly, and even though he refused to look her, she knew that he was listening.

"Promise me, Vincent," she begged, her heart thudding painfully in her chest."Promise you won't leave until we find Yuffie and Reeve!"

Silence.He didn't even bat an eyelash.

"Promise me!" Tifa cried, raising her voice and shaking him again, knowing that he could have thrown her away if he really wanted to."You have to be with us, Vincent! We need you!Reeve needs you!Goddamn it!_Yuffie_ needs you, Vincent!You have to be the one to rescue her!"

"Because I'm the one that lost her," Vincent finished bluntly, still gazing off into the darkness as if he found solace in the shadows.

"No!" Tifa shot back adamantly, fisting her hands in the loose sleeves of Vincent's black shirt."Because I know her, Vincent.I know she wants to see your face when she's rescued!"

"Why would anyone want such a thing?" Vincent asked, staring at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Vincent!" Tifa snapped."Is it so implausible that someone might actually find comfort in your presence?"

"Hn," Vincent grunted, but Tifa thought she saw the harsh light in those eyes soften a bit.

"Now, give me your word," she insisted."Promise me that you won't abandon us!Vincent!"

"You have my word," Vincent said sharply."I will not leave until Yuffie and Reeve are found."He turned his face to her, eyes glittering in the darkness."Now, if you would be so kind as to unhand me?"

Silently, Tifa released her iron grip on his shirt and stepped to the side, clasping her hands in front of her and feeling emotionally drained once again.Vincent seized the opportunity and strode quickly past her, a shadow moving like liquid amongst its brethren.

He was just about to reach the door when Tifa suddenly spoke again."You know, Vincent…" she said softly, her voice barely audible over the thunder's mighty roar.

He stopped again, his profile silhouetted against the doorway."What is it?" he asked, a bit of irritation evident in his voice.

A bit taken aback by his abrupt mood swing, Tifa felt the words dying in her throat, but she still said, "I…I think…that…Yuffie…Yuffie…"Her voice trailed off into nothing, a lonely sound swallowed by the shadows.

"What about Yuffie?" he asked, a bit too quickly.

_ _

_I think Yuffie's falling in love with you._

"Nothing," Tifa said softly."Nothing at all."

* * * * * * * *

Author's Note:Thanks to Kaley for recommending the song at the beginning to me!It really does have a catchy beat!^_^And also, something else that I've been meaning to get to but keep forgetting.Lagophobia (sorry, don't know your real name, just your e-mail address), I tried to send you a thank you e-mail for the e-mail you sent me, but the mail wouldn't go through or something so if you're reading this, thank you!!^_^~Catalina


	22. The Thin Line Between Man and Monster

The Thin Line Between Man and Monster

**_The Thin Line Between Man and Monster_**

_"W-What are you going to do with those?"Yuffie Kisaragi_

_ _

Time passed by so slowly for Reeve.He had no sense of what was reality and what was just a manifestation of his feverish, deteriorating mind.Names and faces passed by him in a flurry of motion, and Reeve didn't know whether or not the owners of these names and faces were living or deceased.Madness had planted its seeds deep within his brain, and those horrible embryos were just beginning to hatch, their burgeoning growth ripping away his sanity piece by piece, memory by memory.In a few days – months?Years?Weeks? – he'd be just a hollow shell, an empty vessel hanging from the shackles in this insubstantial prison that Reeve was no longer sure was a real place or just a portion of his nightmare world.

But sometimes, in the midst of the chaotic whirlwind that Reeve used to call his waking mind, he sometimes knew the real world for a few moments.All of the faces and voices would disappear, and he would open his eyes and see the mist-filled, rank dungeon in which he was imprisoned, and he would know without a doubt that what he was seeing was complete and horrible reality at its most hideous worst.And Reeve would feel hopelessness start to blossom in his heart like a night bird flying to infect the world of the light with its harsh cries of exquisite darkness.And the madness, which was never really gone completely from his brain, would seize this opportunity and leapt out to reclaim its victim, sending Reeve back to the pool of chaos that he was rapidly drowning in.

It was during one of these moments that Reeve realized that he had a visitor.

Of course, he couldn't see this mysterious figure, but he knew it was there, hidden in the mists.He could feel its eyes on him, watching him intensely as he struggled to raise his head and focus on the figure.But he couldn't.His eyes had lost the ability to focus long ago, and Reeve knew in the back of his mind that it was only a matter of time before he lost his sight altogether.

"Your condition has worsened," a voice commented, ringing through the silence of the dungeon to reach the ears of its only prisoner.Reeve could have sworn he had heard the voice before – deep and raspy.

"It's a small miracle you're still alive, you know," the voice said again, and this time Reeve was able to match up the voice with a face…or rather a face covered with a sky mask.

_ _

_The Running Man!_

"The madness won't leave you alone, will it?" the dark man asked as Reeve tried vainly to lock down on where the voice was coming from."It must be terrible for you."

All Reeve could see with his permanently blurred eyes was a mass of green and black all around him.He could see no indication that the Running Man was even in the room with him.For all he knew, his kidnapper's voice could be coming from the mists themselves.

"I would think that death would be a mercy for you by now."

_ _

_No!_ Reeve thought, jerking violently against the chains with the sheer force of his will._I can't die!Not yet!_

For a while, the Running Man was silent, as if surprised by Reeve's reaction, and when he spoke next, his voice was somewhat softer.

"You hear and understand every word I'm saying…don't you?"

_ _

_Yes, I do,_ Reeve tried to say, but nothing emerged from his mouth.The words didn't even reach his throat.

There was a brief pause before the Running Man spoke again."Your friend Yuffie Kisaragi is down here now."

Reeve's blood turned to ice._N-No!Yuffie!No!_

"She put up quite a fight," the Running Man continued flatly."It seems that all members of AVALANCHE have wills made of tempered steel.I didn't think she would be so hard to capture."

_ _

_Damn you!Let Yuffie go!_

"I'm going to see her right now.She will undergo the same torture processes that you did."

_ _

_No…no…don't do it to her!Please!_

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this," the Running Man said quietly."It's not to torment you, despite what you're probably thinking at the moment.Anyhow, I'm leaving now."

Reeve suddenly surged against his chains, long inactive muscles abruptly reanimating themselves.The chain links jangled together loudly, wordlessly demanding that the Running Man stop and pay heed to the indomitable will of the once Shinra manager.

"You have something to say to me?" the Running Man asked, the mists delivering his words for him.

_ _

_If you hurt Yuffie, I'm going to kill you!_ Reeve tried to say, but all that emerged was a bestial snarl that he couldn't believe had come from his throat.

"That what they all say," the Running Man deadpanned.

* * * * * * * * * *

_Drip._

"Vincent!" Yuffie cried, running across the liquid-like surface beneath her feet, saltwater splashing her bare legs as she chased after the painfully distant figure of Vincent Valentine.

"Come back!" she yelled, gasping for breath as she tore across the watery plain as fast as her legs would carry her, all too aware of the fact that no matter how hard or how fast she ran, Vincent's figure wasn't getting any closer.

He had his back to her, raven's wing black hair billowing in some unseen breeze until it seemed to meld into the perfectly black sky that hovered ominously over their heads.His dark clothes fluttered around his tall figure like silk, the motion of the garments much like undulating dance of water itself.

"Vincent!" Yuffie called again, running for all she was worth."Please, Vincent, turn around!"

_ _

_Drip._

"Vincent!" she gasped, stumbling and almost falling."It's me, Yuffie!I…I want to see your face, Vincent!"

But it was no use.She felt her legs give out beneath her from sheer exhaustion, and she could only watch helplessly as Vincent's already distant figure slowly faded like a shadow returning to the darkness that had birthed it.

She was all alone.

_ _

_Drip.Drip._

Her heart was in so much agony that Yuffie felt it was going to shatter into a million pieces.Tears violently stung her eyes, and she lowered her head, allowing her unbound hair to cascade all around her in a waterfall of chocolate.

"Vincent," she whispered, as a tear rolled down her cheek."I'm sorry, Vincent.I'm so sorry.Sorry that I was wrong, Vincent…please…forgive me…"

_ _

_Drip.Drip._

"I just want to see your face, Vincent.One last time…"

_ _

_Drip._

"Vincent…I…"

_ _

_Drip.Drip.Drip._

Slowly, the realm of dream abandoned the weeping form of Yuffie Kisaragi, sending her tumbling back into reality with a thud.She suddenly became aware of a splitting pain in her head, like some wacko was trying to saw her head open or something gross and deranged like that.There was a strange odor in the air, faint yet very displeasing; Yuffie couldn't resist wrinkling her nose in distaste.Something hard and cold was supporting her head and back, and it took her a few seconds to realize that it was the floor.

_ _

_Where am I?_ she wondered, starting to open her eyes._Gawd!This floor is freaking hard!And what the hell is that annoying dripping sound?_

Even though her eyes were fully open, they were almost entirely out of focus, and it took precious seconds of waiting for Yuffie to be able to see clearly.But when the world around her finally emerged, all she saw was that she was being held in a cold, damp cell with stone walls and a ceiling to match.There was light coming in from a door with a barred window, but other than that, her new home was inhabited by purebred shadows.

_ _

_Boring,_ she thought, groaning slightly.

"I see you're finally awake," a voice behind her suddenly deadpanned.

Yuffie was up like a shot despite the roaring pain in her head.Trying to ignore the loud pounding of her heart in her chest, she wrestled to her knees and trying to pinpoint where the voice had come from.

"Who's there?!" she demanded, her voice ringing loudly through the cell.

The darkness in front of her seemed to shift, and the Running Man stepped out of the shadows.

Her heart skipped a beat as she stared up into those eyes that she had recognized just before she had blacked out in Midgar.Up close and out of battle, she saw that the Running Man was a lot taller than he had originally seemed.He was a lot thinner, too, but her expert eyes could easily spot the well-developed muscles even under the folds of his leather jacket and dark pants.His face was still covered by his black ski mask, the dark cloth offsetting those horribly familiar eyes.

"You've stolen Aeris' eyes," Yuffie whispered, blurting out the first thing that came to mind, as was her tendency to do.

The objects she had been referring to narrowed dangerously, their natural glow becoming so concentrated that they seemed to bore into her face with the intensity of two lasers.Squirming underneath that icy gaze, Yuffie was reminded of just whom she was dealing with here.Reeve's and now _her_ kidnapper.

Without warning, the Running Man lifted a gloved hand and took hold of the bottom of his ski mask, pulling it off of his head before Yuffie could even blink.

"Um…whoa," she stammered, eyes wide as she was finally able to see the face behind her kidnapper's mask.

The Running Man could only be accurately described as "drop dead gorgeous."He was around Cloud's age, with longish white-blond hair that shimmered in the darkness and was long enough to nearly cover one of his eyes.Strong facial features gave him an aristocratic look, as if he were a noble from some forgotten time and place.But, of course, the most striking and disturbing feature was his eyes.They were large and green, just as Aeris' eyes had been, only this man's eyes held none of that fresh innocence that Aeris had been known for.No, the Running Man's eyes were as cold as primal ice, silently telling her that her life meant absolutely nothing to him.

"Uh…hello," Yuffie said nervously, not knowing what else to do.

"On your feet," the Running Man ordered, the look on his face daring her to disobey him.

Yuffie made a face."But I'm on my knees.Isn't that enough?I'm really tired right now and—"

"On your feet _now_," he suddenly snapped, eyes hard as steel.

"Fine," Yuffie muttered reluctantly, climbing shakily to her booted feet, trying not to stumble."There," she told the Running Man."Are you happy?"

Face emotionless, the Running Man suddenly reached behind his back.Yuffie stiffened as she heard a metallic, jangling noise resound through her cell like the dark laughter of an unseen being.For a moment, she feared that the Running Man was going to pull out some kind of weapon, but when his hand came back into view, a pair of gleaming shackles was clutched in his gloved fingers.

"Turn around," he ordered flatly.

Yuffie laughed nervously, her eyes on the shackles."Hehe.W-What are you going to do with those?"

The Running Man's eyes narrowed menacingly, not at all pleased with her belligerence."Yuffie Kisaragi, you are a member of AVALANCHE and a descendent of the Kisaragi-Chao bloodline.Wutainese ninjas are known for their unmatched skills and powerful magic attacks.I'm not taking any chances with you.Now, turn around."

Yuffie blinked dumbly at him, surprised with how much he had known about her and her ancestors.The way he had talked about her had made her feel like she ranked up there with the Cetra as far as importance went.Yet, surprisingly enough, she wasn't sure she was flattered by the comparison.After all, the Cetra were extinct.

Yuffie made sure to keep her hands out of the Running Man's reach and stammered, "Oh, those aren't really necessary, you know!I'm not going to try and run away or anything!"

_ _

_Yeah right,_ she thought.

"Yeah right," the Running Man suddenly said dryly."Don't make this anymore difficult than it has to be or I'm going to have to get rough."

Yuffie had the audacity to roll her eyes."Like I'm so sure, Running Asshole!I whooped your sorry ass back in Midgar!Your dumb little partner – whoever they were – had to knock me out because I fried your ass with my _totally_ powerful Bolt 3 spell!"

The Running Man glared at her, spinning the shackles around with one finger, as casual as a bounty hunter like him would get."Fortunately," he told her."We won't have to worry about such pesky spells anymore, will we?"

A cold feeling washed over Yuffie, and she looked down at her wrists to see that she had been completely stripped of all her armor, and her materia was nowhere to be seen.

Anger darkened her pretty face as she glared at the Running Man."You slimy bastard!" she declared, clenching her small hands into fists."Where the hell did you put my armor and all my materia?!" 

_ _

_Shit…I was carrying the Knights of the Round!Cloud's gonna murder me!If I ever get outta here, that is…_

The Running Man smiled coldly at her."It's in a safe place," he said mysteriously.

"Bastard!" Yuffie spat, scowling deeply at his amused expression."I hope you SUFFERED during my Bolt 3 attack!"

"Not really," he said flatly, suddenly tossing the shackles into one of his hands and pulling back the cuff of his leather jacket to reveal a metal bangle hanging around his wrist, the runes etched on it turning into deep pools of shadow in the meager light.

Yuffie recognized the armor immediately.She remembered how she had had to surrender it over to Red before going down into the center of the Planet to fight Sephiroth.Little fuzzball put up quite a fight over it, too…

"Bolt Armlet," she growled."Aren't you just the luckiest bastard, to be wearing it at the time?"

"Quit calling me a bastard," the Running Man ordered coldly, pulling his cuff back down over the Bolt Armlet."That is not my name and so I will not tolerate being called such."

Yuffie sniffed."Fine.So…what IS your name, then?"

The Running Man paused, then, to her utter surprise, said, "Titus."

Yuffie blinked."Oh.Hey!That's a pretty name!It's probably fake, but it's still pretty."

Titus rolled his emerald green eyes and suddenly strode over to the door and shoved it open, letting the light from the hall filter into the cell.Even then, some of the deepest shadows still lingered in the corners of the room.

"Out," he ordered flatly, holding the door open with one hand and gesturing with the other, shackles jangling unpleasantly as he did so.

_ _

_As long as they stay in his hand and not on my wrists, I'll be just fine,_ Yuffie thought nervously as she slowly walked towards the door, keeping her hands as far away from Titus as possible.

Making sure to keep a certain amount of distance between her and Titus – which was rather hard, being that they were both in the same doorway – Yuffie cautiously poked her head out of the cell and took her time examining the hallway, noting that there were more cell doors lining either side of the corridor.Her heart skipped a beat as she wondered if Reeve was being held in one of them, but something told her that Reeve was somewhere else entirely.The other cells were silent and appeared to be unoccupied, and this simple observation was enough to placate Yuffie for the time being.She also noticed that one end of the hallway was more brightly lit than the other.

_ _

_I'll bet the exit is that way,_ she thought, a plan beginning to hatch in her devious little thief's brain._Let's just hope good ol' Titus here is the impatient sort._

Finally, after another thirty seconds of watching her continue to examine the empty corridor, Titus – usually a very patient man – got fed up with waiting.Placing a gloved hand on her narrow back, he gave her a somewhat hard shove that sent her flying out into the hallway.

_ _

_Big mistake,_ Yuffie thought with an internal grin._Can't believe the sucker actually fell for it!_

She pretended to be on a collision course with the hard floor, but instead, she twisted gracefully around and bolted to the right, thinking that there was no way in hell that Titus would be able to catch and swift, nimble creature such as herself.

But after only two running strides, she suddenly felt two hands close on her arms and yank them behind her back…rather painfully, too.Her flight to freedom was brought to a brutal close when she felt the cold metal of the shackles bite into her wrists and heard the loud snap as Titus clicked them shut with an air of smug finality.

"Damn it," she cursed under her breath, feeling her hopes of escape fluttering away.

"Nice try," Titus praised, and Yuffie thought he sounded genuinely impressed."I wasn't expecting that, you know.Well done."

"A trick is only well done if it works," Yuffie grumbled as Titus spun her around to face him, her hands now completely immobile in her new bindings.

"A good philosophy," Titus commented, lifting a pale blond eyebrow."But if you try something like that again, you'll give me justification to kill you."

"She just _gave_ you justification, honey," a new voice suddenly said."Why don't you just kill her now?She's probably going to end up dead anyways."

A scowl already marring Yuffie's features at the arrogance in the accented voice, she spun around to find her face to face with a Wutainese woman dressed in a leather bodysuit that fit her like a second skin.Her dark brown eyes glared down at Yuffie snootily as she walked closer to the pair, heeled boots clacking on the floor.

"Who the hell are you?" Yuffie demanded in the nastiest tone she could muster.

Titus suddenly laid his hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention away from the woman."Who she is doesn't matter," he said curtly."Let's get going."

He started to drag Yuffie down the hallway but stopped short when he saw a mischievous grin on the young girl's face."Is this your _girl_friend, Titus?" she teased, nudging him her elbow and winking at him as if they were old friends instead of kidnapper and prisoner."Why don't ya introduce me to her?Huh?Huh?"

Titus glared at her angrily.

The woman suddenly planted her hands on her narrow hips and huffed."You told her your name, Titus?" she asked incredulously.

"What does it matter in the end?" Titus said coldly, directing his words at the woman even though he was staring down at Yuffie."She's never going to see daylight again."

Yuffie swallowed hard, and for the first time, she realized that there was actually a chance that she may not get out of here alive.

The woman threw up her hands suddenly."To hell with it all!" she declared."I'm Fa-Li.Now, let's go!"

Yuffie found herself being ushered somewhat roughly down the hall with Titus on her left and Fa-Li on her right.Both of them hand one of their hands wrapped around Yuffie's upper arm, like she was REALLY going to try and run with her hands in shackles.(She probably would, but that was beside the point!)She had no idea where she was in the first place, which put her at a disadvantage.She had no doubt that even if she, by some miracle, managed to get away from her captors, she would quickly find herself lost in this outlandish place.Knowing her rotten luck, she would probably end up stumbling into a place much worse than where her two escorts were taking her.

Her soul deflated slightly as thoughts of escape grew dimmer and dimmer._Maybe the others will come for me,_ she thought hopefully._I'm sure stupid Vincent will notice when I don't show up in the office building and start raising Cain for having to walk all around the building in the rain.They'll come and rescue me…I hope…_

But how were Vincent and the others even to know where she had been taken?Unless Titus had left some sort of trail this time, the others were shit out of luck…and so was she.

Sighing internally, Yuffie focused on her surroundings as she passed them since neither of her escorts seemed to be in a chatty mood.The walls on either side of her were lined with cell after cell, barred windows high up on the doors resembling gaping mouths lined with stained teeth.Were there other people in these cells?So far there was nothing but silence hanging in the air, and as she passed the barred windows, she could see no sign that the cells were occupied.Still, she had a feeling that at least a few of these cells held horrible secrets for her to witness.

The prison corridor seemed to go on forever, but soon Titus and Fa-Li stopped at a rusted metal door that had a circular handle resembling those on submarine hatches.Yuffie had no interest in the nasty old door, but what _did_ interest her was the fact that Titus and Fa-Li released their grips on her arms so that they could open the door.Well, at least _Titus_ started to open the door.Fa-Li just stood there in a bratty fashion, practically tapping her foot with impatience.

Yuffie was just about to open her mouth and start annoying her captors when she suddenly heard a scuffling noise from the cell on her left.Leaning back slightly so she could see around Titus, she narrowed her eyes, trying to pierce the darkness beyond the window's bars.She could see nothing, but she suddenly heard the rustling noise again.

Yep, there was definitely _something_ in there.

Now, Yuffie was a curious person by nature, but she tended to shy away from situations that might end up with her pushing up daisies with "Curiosity killed the cat" written on her tombstone.But, hey, there was a cell door between her and whatever was in the darkness.No harm with a little peek now, was there?

Even though Yuffie felt Fa-Li's watchful eyes on her, neither of her captors moved to stop her as she slowly approached the occupied cell, intent on finding out what was in there.She hadn't heard the scuffling noise again, but she felt _something_ watching her from behind the barred window.But stopping a foot away from the cell, she could still see nothing in the darkness.

Frustrated, Yuffie strode right up against the door and, standing on her toes, practically shoved her face up against the bars, peering curiously into the darkness.

She saw the creature coming almost a moment too late.

A head suddenly materialized out of blackness, oversized and monstrous, and Yuffie was just about to scream when two hands came flying through the bars, grabbing for her throat with the fervor of demon reaching from its fiery pit.A grotesque moaning suddenly split the air, and Yuffie felt hands clamp down on her shoulders and yank her backwards so that she collided with something hard: Titus' chest.

Yuffie just stood there for a moment, leaning unwittingly on Titus for support as she tried to recover her wits.Her mouth kept opening and closing, and she knew that she was either trying to scream or talk; she couldn't decide which to do.The horror standing before her had banished all rational thought.

Her first thought was that the thing screaming in the cell was a Faceless Man.It the same bald head and glistening pink flesh as the ones she had fought a couple of days ago, but the only difference was that this one…had a face.Or what was left of a face.Whereas the Faceless Men had had only indentations where its eyes, mouth, and nose should have been, this horrific creature actually had something resembling the parts its predecessors had been lacking.

Only, instead of a real nose, this creature had a gaping hole in which Yuffie could see gray tissue and something white that might have been bone; it looked much like someone had just ripped the entire nose off of the thing's face.There was a bandana covering the thing's eyes, thank God, but there was a clear watery substance trickling out from underneath the cloth that Yuffie didn't even want to guess the nature of.She somehow knew that the thing no longer possessed organs with which to see.But the most horrible thing was the mouth, or what was left of it.The creature's lips had been literally _stitched_ together with some sort of thick leather straps, making it look like some sort of diabolical rag doll come to life.But it wasn't so much the sight of the mouth being prevented from fulfilling its natural purpose that made Yuffie freeze in terror.

All the Faceless Men Yuffie had fought so far had been eerily silent, and though at the time Yuffie had been unnerved by the lack of sound that the abominations made, she now had a newfound respect for the silent ones.

For this one – this monstrosity in the making – was trying to scream.No, it was trying to _TALK_, but the only sounds that emerged from its stitched mouth were horrible moans that echoed down the hall and made Yuffie's heart shudder in her chest.She could hear the desperation and fear in what was left of the thing's voice, and it suddenly struck her as unbelievably cruel that a creature could be such a condition and still be emotionally aware of the nightmare it was in.Too cruel…

Suddenly, Yuffie found her voice and realized she was in the mood for screaming.

"Ohmygodwhatdidyoudotoit???!!!" she shrieked, suddenly feeling more angry than frightened.

Titus squeezed her shoulder painfully, a signal for her to shut up.

But Yuffie was beyond listening to reason. "What did you do it?!" she raged as the thing in the cell moaned again, its pink, emaciated hands slicing the air inches from her face.

Fa-Li suddenly jerked her out of Titus' grasp, her manicured fingernails digging brutally into Yuffie's arm."Shut up!" she screamed at the girl, then turned to Titus angrily."Titus!Get that thing in there to stop its moaning!"

"'It'?" Titus echoed, looking amused."I don't think he or she is so far gone into the transformation to be considered an 'it' yet."

Something in his words broke through Yuffie's haze of rage."'He or she'?!" she cried, tearing her eyes away from the monstrosity clawing for freedom and shifting her gaze to Titus."I thought the Faceless Men were only men!!No wait!This…thing – it was _human_???!!!"

_ _

_Just like Vincent said…_

"Key word being 'was'," Titus commented dryly as he strode fearlessly up the cell, just out of reach of the Faceless Man/Woman's clawing hands."Well?" he suddenly demanded of the creature."Were you male of female…or do you even remember?"

The Faceless Man/Woman's response was only to screech louder, trying desperately to swipe at Titus with its clawed hands.The watery substance was still streaming out from under the bandana, and Yuffie realized for the first time that the liquid was actually tears.The thing was crying.

"Stop it!" Yuffie hollered at Titus, surging against Fa-Li's grasp."It can still understand you!!Stop it!!Please!It's crying, goddamn you!!!"

Faster than lightening, Titus suddenly sprung forward, grabbing the creature's flailing hands and yanking them forward so that the thing's face – or what was left of it – was shoved up against the bars.It moaned plaintively.

"Oh gawd!!" Yuffie hollered at Titus, trying to kick the back of his leg with her boot."Leave it alone!Please!!"

Titus turned around to glare at the half-crazed girl held in the grip of Fa-Li, which was surprisingly strong for such a slight woman."Why should I leave it alone?" he demanded coldly, his gloved hands still wrapped around the thing's arms."It he or she doesn't submit to the treatment, then in two or three days, they'll turn into an Evict."

"And what the hell is a goddamn Evict?!" Yuffie raged.

"Think zombie," Titus replied, turning away from her disinterestedly."Think smart zombie.Think smart zombie that can move fast when it wants to.Think smart, fast zombie that screams a lot and eats anything it can get its claws on.That, my little friend, is an Evict."Then he added, as an afterthought, "I let one loose in the Midgar sewers, you know."

Yuffie's heart froze in her chest."What did you say?" she gasped.

Titus' cold voice drifted back to her."You heard me."

"But three of my friends were in the sewers!!!" Yuffie burst out, gray eyes full of pain.

"Not anymore," Fa-Li muttered under her breath.

Yuffie felt something in her shatter and wither away.She shut her burning eyes tightly and gritted her teeth, unwittingly sliding from Fa-Li's grasp and to the floor, the stone cold underneath her bare legs.

_ _

_Reno…Elena…Red…_

"G-God damn you!!" she roared, her entire body trembling."God damn you to hell!!!!!"

Titus suddenly appeared in front of her and yanked her roughly to her feet, gloved fingers digging into her skin.Yuffie opened her eyes and glared up at him angrily, the fire of hatred scalding her veins.Somewhere in the background she could hear the Faceless Man/Woman moaning plaintively, but all she knew was the unearthly light in Titus' green eyes, which were right in front of her.She wanted to do something to him.Punch him or kick him.But her hands were still bound by her shackles, and her legs felt weak and watery.All she had left was her voice and her fury.

"How could you?!" she spat, oblivious to the tears of rage and heartbreak rolling down her face."They were my friends!You're a goddamn monster!I hope you burn in hell!"

Titus' eyes narrowed, and a bitter smile crept across his lips."This _is_ my hell," he whispered softly."And now it is yours as well.Better get used to it because you're never leaving this place."

* * * * * * *

Cloud massaged his temples in an attempt to ease the headache that was threatening to make its home in his skull.The thunder in the night outside rumbled in sinister amusement at his pain, and the ex-SOLDIER cursed the storm that wasn't showing any signs of letting up.Kalm was already mostly flooded, and soon an emergency evacuation would be called for.That would not be a good thing, of course.Where else would they station their base of operations?In Midgar?No way, not when the Running Man may or may not be prowling the city still.

Yet Cloud knew – somehow he just _knew_ – that the Running Man was no longer in Midgar.

Sighing wearily, he tried to force himself to focus on the maps spread out on the table in front of him, but the many lines and curves blurred before his overworked eyes, and he let out a growl of frustration.Elena and Rude had been nice enough to make the trek back to their hotel room to bring back old maps of Midgar Reeve had given them a while back in case of an emergency.Strangely enough, Reno had declined to go with them and instead had trudged upstairs without a word to almost anyone.

_ _

_Don't know what's wrong with that guy,_ Cloud thought._He didn't even drink himself into a coma tonight like he usually does.Maybe he's embarrassed because of the whole snake thing._

Unconsciously, Cloud's gaze shifted to the long scrapes that now ran almost the entire length of both of his arms, courtesy of a certain redheaded Turk and his massive fear of snakes.Cloud absently ran a gloved finger along one of the angry red lines and winced as a jolt of pain went through him.The scrapes weren't enough to merit a Cure spell or even a Potion, but the things sure stung like crazy.Like big, long paper cuts.Reno must have literally been _clawing_ at him in his attempt to get away from the snake earlier that day.And lucky Cloud had to be the stepping stone.

He was still prodding at the scrapes when he suddenly heard a light footstep on the stairs leading to the upstairs bedrooms.Looking up, he was surprised to see Tifa standing there, barefooted and wearing a pale blue robe.

"Hey Cloud," she greeted a little nervously, tucking a lock of dark brown hair behind her ear.

He managed to muster up a weary smile for her."Hey Tifa.What are you doing up so late?"

"Couldn't sleep," she said, smiling wanly at him and padding over to take a seat in the chair across from him, heedless of the maps consuming most of the table space."Did you see Vincent pass through here?" she asked.

Cloud blinked in confusion."No, but he might have gone through while I was sleeping."

Tifa's brow creased."You fell asleep down here?"

Cloud nodded."Yeah, right on the maps, hence the drool spot on Sector 2."

She laughed softly, smiling a little."Cloud, have you been down here all night?"

He nodded his spiky head, staring wearily at the maps between them."These are maps of Midgar and the Midgar sewer system," he explained tiredly.

Tifa leaned forward and peered at one of the maps, brushing aside rebellious strands of her hair when they made clear that they wanted to see the maps too."How can you make any sense of this?" she asked dubiously."It's just a bunch of lines to me."

"To me, too.But somehow I _have_ to make sense of them."He tapped the map with one gloved finger."Something keeps telling me that the key to finding both Yuffie and Reeve is in the sewers."

"Because that's where the transport tunnel led?" Tifa asked.

Cloud nodded."Yeah, so we're pretty sure that the Running Man left the lab by way of the sewers.And also, that snake was huge.Something that big couldn't have been slinking around the sewers for a long time and not be noticed by someone.It had to have come from somewhere."

"And you think that somewhere might lead to the Running Man," Tifa finished.

Cloud looked at her helplessly."It's all we have to go on right now."

Tifa propped her elbows up on the table and rested her chin in her hands."So we're heading back to Midgar tomorrow?" she asked softly.

Cloud shook his head."No, not tomorrow.We need to recuperate a little."

"But Cloud!" Tifa suddenly exclaimed, eyes filled with worry."We have to find Yuffie and Reeve!And quick, too!"

Cloud felt a similar worry rising in his heart, but he held it back with a great force of will."I know, Tifa," he said as calmly as he could manage."But Cid still needs to fix up Cait.With Yuffie gone, we're going to need Cait's help as much as possible.And everyone's a little shaken up right now."Avoiding her gaze, he said, "Especially Reno."

Tifa didn't say anything.She lowered her dark head, and Cloud was starting to wonder if he had accidentally hurt her feelings when she suddenly said, "Do you want me to tell you?"

He looked up in surprise."Tell me what?"

"About me and Reno," she replied softly.

Though something in him desperately wanted to cry "Yes!" Cloud shook his head and returned his attention back to the maps."That's between you and Reno," he forced himself to say.

"But don't you care?" Tifa asked suddenly, raising her head and fixing her burgundy gaze on him.

Avoiding those beautiful, pained eyes, Cloud said, "Of course I care.More than you'll know, but…that's between you and Reno," he finished lamely, not knowing what else to say.He never had been a man of many words.

"Cloud…" she whispered softly, and he heard the longing and the love in that one word, but he refused to believe it, not when things were the way they were.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted the other morning," he rushed on, speaking blindly now."It's just…I didn't…I mean…I just…if Reno needs help, you should help him, you know?I…I won't stand in the way."He practically choked on the words as he said them.

He was in so much emotional trauma that he didn't even see Tifa leave her chair and come to stand beside him.One moment he was staring at the maps without seeing them, the next he was feeling soft, graceful arms slipping around his shoulders and gently pulling him so that his head was resting against a slender stomach.

"I'm sorry for your pain, Cloud," Tifa whispered softly, stroking his hair."I know you're feeling confused and helpless right now.Don't worry.We're going to find Yuffie and Reeve.Everything's going to be alright."

Something in Cloud seemed to give and he shuddered violently, his eyes slipping closed and he wrapped his arms around Tifa's waist and buried his face in the soft cotton shirt that covered her lean stomach, breathing in the scent of clean clothes and Tifa's personal feminine scent.And for the first time in a long time, he felt a sense of peace settle over him, like the calm after a storm.

True, he knew that he may still be in danger of losing the woman he loved, but…she was with him now, holding him and understanding his pain.And that was more than enough.

* * * * * * * *

Vincent shut his window quietly behind him, water streaming from his soaked clothes to pool on the ground at his feet, shimmering like puddles of pure night on the hardwood floor.He knew it was rude to be getting Tifa's floor wet like this, but he would just have to clean it later.He didn't want to have to go through the bar itself to get up to his room because that would have meant bothering Tifa and Cloud during their moment of soltitude, something that he felt he had no right to disrupt.And being that the back door was locked, Vincent had had no other choice but to enter his room using the very same method that had indirectly made Yuffie Kisaragi meet her doom.

Turning away from the window, Vincent looked dispassionately around at his room.He knew that Tifa had stayed in his room long enough to watch and wave to him as he walked away along the beach to stare at the churning ocean and violet, stormy skies.Now he could hear her and Cloud talking softly downstairs in the bar's main room, their voices hushed and soothing, meant entirely for each other.He had no right to even listen to such rhythmic emotion.

_ _

_You should just leave,_ he told himself viciously._You are good for absolutely nothing around here.Thirty years in a coffin atoning for your sins was not nearly enough to lift the burden from your shoulders.You need a great spiritual cleansing, Vincent Valentine.Something that will purge your horrid, tainted soul of all the wrongs you have done._

Raking his human hand roughly through his tangled hair, Vincent realized that he had lost his hair clasp sometime during his midnight meanderings.Almost against his will, he walked over to the full length mirror that was hung on the wall and looked to see just how ghastly his appearance was.

It may have been a man who had gone to take a walk outside, but the tempest had returned a monster to Tifa's bar.

Vincent's dark hair hung around his face like a shroud, clinging to the sides of his ghostly white face like spindly fingers of pure darkness.His borrowed clothes were waterlogged and felt like lead weights holding him down.And, as always, his crimson eyes gleamed in defiance of everything about Vincent Valentine that might be called human.One look at his eyes, and he knew that it was no man staring back at him from the mirror's reflected realm.

He spun away from the mirror in disgust, hating himself, hating the world, hating the very womb that had birthed him and the evil man that had made him into a monster on the outside – an appearance to mirror the soul within.For Vincent had always been a monster at heart.After all he had been a Turk, hadn't he?Only good for ending human life, not saving it.

_ _

_"I hope you're happy, Vincent!You managed to get rid of me!"_

"Leave me alone," Vincent whispered feverishly, rubbing his eyes with his human hand as if he could erase of image of Yuffie's face from where it was engraved on the inside of his eyelids, beautiful and inescapable.

He had failed her.Failed her badly.And to think of her, innocent and teeming with life, in the hands of the creature known as the Running Man only generated in Vincent an even deeper sense of self-loathing than ever before.He had always hated being called "Vinnie" but at that moment, he would have given anything in the world to hear Yuffie calling his name.If she died, he would never _ever_ forgive himself.

_ _

_So leave,_ he told himself._That way when Cloud and the others find out she is dead, you'll never have to face up to the sin.You'll never have to face up to the fact that you abandoned her when she needed you the most.You monster.Cowardly monster.Go ahead.Run from the truth like you always do._

Something inside him – something that felt suspiciously like his heart – began to break, and in his moment of vulnerability, Vincent suddenly felt an extreme of sense of ominous foreboding wash over him.Hot and cold chased each other across his skin, and a wave of dizziness hit him like a freight train and disappeared just as quickly. 

Something behind him suddenly demanded his attention, and Vincent whirled around to look in the mirror.

And saw Chaos staring back at him, monstrous and terrible, its dark form filling the entire mirror without enough room left for the wings that Vincent couldn't see but knew were there.And as he stared in horror, the demon…smiled.

With a scream of rage and fear, Vincent's hand shot out, snagged the lamp from the dresser and flung it blindly at the mirror.The image of Chaos dissolved into a thousand lethal shards of broken glass and crumpled to the hardwood floor with a dozen ringing cries, shards shimmering in the moonlight like a puddle of crystalline tears.The thunder roared outside, as if shocked by the atrocity of his actions.

Silence fell for a second, broken only by the sounds of Vincent's ragged breathing and the rain pounding the window like demons crying to be let in.

He suddenly became aware of someone pounding up the stairs and heading towards his room.

_ _

_INTERVENERS.STOP THEM._

Before he knew what he was doing, Vincent leapt clear over the bed with inhuman swiftness and threw his body weight against the door, barely glimpsing Cloud coming up the stairs before the door slammed shut with a bang.Dizziness hit him like a fist in the gut, and Vincent sank to the floor with his back against the door.His head was throbbing.

Someone started pounding on the door."Vincent!" Cloud cried."Are you alright?!What happened?!"

"Vincent!" Tifa's voice echoed her companion's cries.

"I'm fine," Vincent gasped, suddenly finding it hard for him to breathe."Just leave me!"

"What was that breaking sound?!" Cloud demanded.Vincent dimly heard the other man trying to turn the doorknob, but the sound was distant, like he was hearing it from underwater.

"Vincent," Tifa's voice suddenly whispered, right next to his ear.She had apparently kneeled down so that she was basically level with him even with the door between them."Vincent, open the door," she begged."Please!"

"I'll still be here in the morning, Tifa," he whispered back, forcing the words through his mouth."I'll still…be…here…"

He blacked out for a second, and when he reemerged from the abyss, he vaguely heard Tifa trying to convince Cloud that everything was fine and Red XIII's gravelly voice asking what was wrong.But Vincent wasn't interested in what was going on in the world outside his door.All he felt was the fever throbbing in his head and the cold that was making his limbs shiver uncontrollably.

Was he getting sick?No, he knew that he was immune to all diseases.If the whole Planet were suddenly wiped out by a plague, he alone would remain unaffected.Such was his curse, his penance for his well of sins.But if he couldn't fall ill, then what was happening to him?What was burning his flesh and freezing his blood?He felt detached from the world around him – completely unaware of his surroundings.The voices of Cloud, Tifa and Red were unreal, as if he were dreaming.

Vincent knew only one creature was to blame for this.Only one creature on the Planet could exert this much power over him.

_ _

_Chaos?!_ he demanded silently while hugging his shivering body and fighting to remain conscious._What are you…what are you doing to me?!_

And this time, he heard it, unmistakable.He felt it rolling across his soul like a dark, sinister wave.Laughter.The beast was _laughing_ at him.

_ _

_So it was you!Leave me be!Back to the dark with you, demon!_Vincent focused all his energy behind these words.

The rumbling laughter seemed to increase at this ancient incantation.Vincent felt the demon shifting in the well of his soul, a strange demonic babbling issuing from its unseen mouth.Something clicked in his feverish mind that the demon was speaking in its native tongue, the language of all things evil and demonic, but something inside Vincent – perhaps something just as evil and demonic – could make primitive sense of the words.

_ _

_BANISH ME TO THE DARK?_

_ _

_BANISH YOURSELF TO THE DARK…_

_ _

_YOU ARE MY DARKNESS_

_ _

_I AM YOU!_

A tidal wave of images suddenly washed over Vincent without warning, plunging him into what could only be described as utter and complete chaos.

A corridor.Rows of cells on either side.

A door with a circular handle.

Another hallway.

Hallway.

Hallway.

Hallway.

Endless hallway.

A room.A torture chamber!Raised platform and a walkway circling around the entire room.Green light.A girl stood on the platform, chains around her wrists.

"Yuffie!" Vincent cried, hands reaching out to grab her, but the image of her suddenly dissolved before his eyes, falling apart and fleeing from the hands that sought to liberate the one they had failed to save the first time.

Slowly, Vincent's vision cleared, and he saw the raindrops rushing down the window across the room from him.He felt the wetness of his soaked clothes against his feverish skin and the incessant throbbing in his skull.He was still shivering with unexplainable chills, his back firmly against the door to his room, preventing the outside world from being tainted with the darkness that had just passed through him.

And Chaos was where it was supposed to be – furtive, hidden deep within his being, but always there.

"Chaos," Vincent whispered weakly, feeling as if all the life had been drained from his body."You…show me the way to her, demon?Why?Why do you want me to find her?"

But apparently Chaos declined to answer, for Vincent heard nothing from the demon, not even a whisper.

He let the silence fill the niches of the room before whispering, "Yuffie…I will find you.I promise."

Then he sagged against the door and curled up into a ball, closing his eyes and letting the fever run its course.

* * * * * * * *

Author's Note: Whew!Finally got this chapter done!Took me half of the day, but I did it!However, I have a feeling this is going to be the last chapter for a while since the next one is going to be hard to tackle.O_OIt's about Reno and the entire story of Mika.I've been dreading writing this next chapter since I have a feeling it's going to be difficult!But I just want to thank everyone who has supported me so far!You're wonderful!And all I ask is for your continuing support to help me through this next chapter!Thanks again!You guys are great!::sniff::I'll dish out a chapter or two of Clash of the Titans just to let everyone know I'm still alive.^_~--Catalina


	23. The Pain of Love: Reno's Story

The Pain of Love: Reno's Story

**_The Pain of Love: Reno's Story_**

_"I'm not going to abandon you, Reno."Tifa Lockheart_

_ _

_She clings to me like cellophane_

_Fake plastic submarine_

_Slowly driving me insane_

_But now that's over_

_So what if the sex was great_

_Just a temporary escape_

_Another think I grew to hate_

_But now that's over_

_Why, why do you always kick me when I'm high?_

_Knock me down till we see eye to eye_

Figured her out I know she

_May not be Miss Right but she'll do right now_

_I used to hang on every word_

_Each lie was more absurd_

_Kept me so insecure_

_But now that's over_

_She taught me how to trust_

_And to believe in us_

_And then she taught me how to cuss…that bitch!_

_It's over_

_You know, I used to be such a nice boy_

_ _

_"Right Now"_

_S.R. 71_

_ _

Elena blinked blearily and tried to focus on not tumbling down the stairs in front of her.One hand, the formerly manicured nails now snagged and chipped from one too many battles with giant sewer-dwelling snakes, groped for the handrail and gripped it tightly, using it as a brace for her weary body as she carefully placed one foot in front of the other, the wood creaking underneath her stockinged feet.

Elena was not what one would consider a morning person.The female Turk had a generally sweet personality once she had at least two cups of coffee in her system and a head of hair that didn't make her look like she had stuck a wet finger in an electrical socket.Oh, and make-up wasn't bad either, and neither was a set of decent clothes, but considering what had happened to her _last _two suits, Elena had decided that her coming down in her pajamas and bathrobe would be a statement that she needed a break.No more running around sewers for her, at least for a day or two.

As she continued to descend the stairs with great care, she heard voices in the main room of the bar.Sounded like Cloud and Barret were up, and she had glanced in Reno's room on her way down and saw that his bed was empty.Unless he was in the shower or something, he was probably down there as well.Normally, Elena would be embarrassed that anyone other than Reno or Rude would be seeing her in her nightclothes, but lately, she found herself getting more and more uncomfortable around the members of AVALANCHE.The only one that still creeped her out a bit was Vincent Valentine.And Cait Sith.

"Ew, look what the cat dragged in," a gruff voice commented as Elena entered the bar with a yawn, not bothering to cover her mouth.

Elena's yawn turned into a growl as she put her hands on her hips, realizing that Cid was apparently up as well."I should have figured you'd be down here," she huffed, her voice still hoarse from sleep."I didn't any earthquake-caliber snoring coming from down the hall."

Cid, who was completely dressed except for his flight jacket, blew a cloud of smoke in her direction."Nice to see you're Ms. Sunshine today," he commented with a grin.

"Whatever," Elena commented distractedly, eyes roving around mechanically for the coffee maker that she knew had to be hiding somewhere.

Barret, who was seated at the table with Cid and Cloud, glared at her."Be quiet," he hissed."I'm talkin' to my daughter!"

For a moment, Elena had no idea what he was talking about until he turned his attention away from her and she realized that the big man had the phone pressed to his other ear, talking loudly to be heard over what had to be a bad connection.The blonde contemplated annoying him some more, but another yawn erupted from her mouth, and her search for the coffee took top priority once again.

Cloud noticed what she was doing and pointed to the end of the counter with a bare hand, absently sipping from his coffee cup as he did so.Elena noticed in passing that he had finally changed out of his ratty, torn uniform and was instead dressed in a simple white button-down shirt and a pair of blue jeans.His wrists were completely devoid of any type of armor or gloves, and his spiky blond hair looked slightly damp, probably from a shower unless he had taken a dip in the floodwaters outside.

_Hope all this casual dress is a good thing,_ Elena thought warily as she poured herself some coffee, the scent of the dark liquid filling the pristine cup enough to make her perk up a bit.

Turning away from the coffee maker and gingerly sipping the steaming liquid, Elena surveyed the bar in front of her.Cloud, Cid, and Barret were seated at a table, sipping coffee (in Cloud's case), smoking cigarettes (in Cid's case), and talking on the phone (in Barret's case).For the first time, she noticed the lean form of Red XIII resting on the floor near Cloud's chair, one golden eye staring up at Elena calmly.

"You're welcome to come and sit at the table," the lion-like beast said politely, raising his head.

"Yeah, woman," Cid echoed absently, loudly yanking out the chair next to him."We don't bite.C'mere and sit down."

"Thank you," Elena said, happily surprised that they were being so nice to her.Probably because she wasn't wearing her Turks suit.

Whatever the case, she was pleased that they had at least invited her to join them.If there was one thing she hated, it was feeling like an outcast.Padding over to the table, she paused to pat Red XIII on the head briefly before seating herself between Cloud and Cid.She sipped her coffee contentedly, realizing for the first time that the Final Heaven bar was starting to feel more home to her than her apartment in Midgar.Fancy that.Before she knew it, she might actually be calling AVALANCHE her friends!

_Not that they would be bad friends to have,_ Elena thought as she poked Red with her toe and stuck her tongue out at him when he turned to glare at her._They're actually kind of nice to be around…sometimes._

"I'm hungry," Cid announced suddenly.

"So eat," Cloud replied smartly, amusement flickering in his eyes.

Cid made a face at him, fiddling with his pack of his cigarettes absent-mindedly."There isn't any food.Where's Tifa?"

"Shower," Cloud replied shortly, eyes focused on the window across the room and the rain rolling down the glass.

"Why don't you make your own breakfast?" Elena demanded of the pilot."Why do you always have to have Tifa make it for you?"

Cid glared at her, blue eyes sharp underneath the thick blond eyebrows."Why don't _you_ make us some breakfast?" he shot back.

Elena's scowl melted into a grin."Cid, you don't want to see what happens when I decide to make use of the kitchen.I couldn't cook to save my own life."

"Same here," Cid echoed grimly.

"Same here," Cloud said.

Barret suddenly whirled to glare at them."You guys shut yer holes!" he roared."I'm trying to talk here!"

"So go outside or something!" Cid bellowed back, matching Barret glare for glare."We havin' a nice conversation here and you keep interrupting us!"

Barret's face darkened with anger."Goddamn asshole," he started to curse, but Elena suddenly heard a child-like voice exclaim on the phone, "Papa!"

All the anger immediately evaporated from Barret's face, and his tone became apologetic."Sorry 'bout that, Marlene.I jes' yelling at your Uncle Cid."

"He's mistreatin' me, Marlene!!!" Cid called loudly, a grin spreading across his weathered face.

"No, honey, Uncle Cid's just fine," Barret said into the phone, giving Cid a dark glare, which caused the pilot to break out into hysterics.Elena laughed into her coffee cup and saw Cloud doing the same thing.

"You people so goddamn noisy!" the big man declared, leaping up from his seat and storming out of the room with the phone still held to his ear.Cid laughter turned to a wheezing half-cough/half-laugh, and Elena reached over to whack him on the back until he stopped.

Tifa suddenly came down the stairs, her hair damp and dressed in a plain sleeveless black shirt and a pair of denim shorts that showed off her muscled legs, but with more tact than her miniskirt.

_More casualness,_ Elena thought, trying not to be jealous of that fact that Tifa at her worst probably looked better than Elena at her best._Things are looking up.She doesn't even have her gloves on._

"Was that Barret I heard yelling?" Tifa asked, glancing around the bar.

"Who else can yell that loud or storm off so eloquently?" Cloud responded with a smile. 

Tifa returned his smile, but then her brow suddenly creased as she continued looking around the bar."Where's Reno?" she asked worriedly."He wasn't in his room, and I haven't seen him anywhere."

"That guy's been acting funny," Cid responded, sounding a little concerned in spite of himself."He just came down and sat there for a while, then left when Barret got on the phone.Maybe he didn't want to hear that old geezer's babbling?"

"He left out into the rain?" Tifa asked, anxiety written across her features."But Kalm is almost completely flooded…"

"He probably went down to the beach," Cloud said quietly, staring into his coffee cup as if it were the most interesting thing in the world."Maybe you should go after him, Tifa?"

Tifa's burgundy eyes were overbright as she shifted her gaze to the blond swordsman seated next to Elena."Cloud…" she said softly, and everyone else in the room could sense some entirely private communication passing between the two of them, something that Elena, Cid and Red – as outsiders – dare not disturb.

Cloud looked at her, all gentle smiles and sad blue eyes."Go," was all he said, the word spoken so tenderly and with such tragic meaning that the others felt ashamed for bearing witness to such private emotion.

Tifa, for all her awareness of the pain of others and her compassion for those with bleeding hearts, only nodded her thanks to Cloud and strode from the bar and into the rain.But everyone knew that she didn't need to speak for Cloud to understand and hear the words residing in her heart.He had seen all he needed to see in her eyes – saw things that everyone else was blind to, and they knew it as well as he. 

That's why after Tifa had temporarily forsaken the warmth and company in the bar for the endless fall of raindrops and the bleeding soul of Reno calling to her in the distance, no one dared to speak to Cloud about it, ask him what had just passed between him and Tifa.The knowledge was not theirs to have.

So silence hung in the bar until Cid finally whimpered, "She just _left_.Who's going to make me breakfast now?!"

"Oh good God!!" Elena exclaimed in exasperation, rolling her eyes."Eat cereal or something!"

"Can it, woman," Cid snapped at her before suddenly leaning down so that he could peer under the table.

"Hey!What are you—" Elena started to protest.

"Hey Red!" Cid called, maintaining his hold on his cigarette with a sheer force of will."You wouldn't know how to whip me up some breakfast now, would you?"

On the floor, Red rolled his eye and answered flatly, "Certainly.Let me just put on my apron and mosey into the kitchen."

Cid's blue eyes widened."Really?"

"No, not really."

* * * * * * *

Tifa stood on the edge of the deck outside the bar, looking miserably out at the town that she had come to call home.The water had risen so high that the steps leading down from the decking were completely submerged, and the water was already lapping at the upper level with hungry intent.And still the cruel raindrops plummeted from the dark heavens above, continuing to flood Kalm as if to fulfill some ravenous grudged that they had against the small town.Most of the townspeople had already left, but Tifa could still see some families literally paddling out of town in rafts, clad in rain slickers, with their belongings wrapped up in plastic bags.Tifa wondered how long it would be until she would have to join them.The only reason the bar had remained unscathed so far was because it had been built on stilts (making for a longer fall when she tossed troublemakers out of her bar).But the water trying to get onto the upper deck was swollen and possessed by some insatiable hunger – the same hunger that had made its brethren swallow Kalm whole.What the small village done to merit such unfair treatment from the heavens?And why now, of all times?

Sighing, Tifa tried to push the thoughts from her head.Standing there moping and lamenting the evitable wasn't going to get her to Reno any faster.Bracing herself, she raised one booted foot and stepped down onto the first step, and consequently, out from under the cover of the porch roof.Rain eagerly soaked into her clothes and hair, and she felt the floodwater seep into her boot with astounding quickness.

_Well, there's no use prolonging this experience,_ she thought grumpily before walking down the steps, her legs entirely underwater in a mere matter of seconds.Wincing whenever hidden debris would brush teasingly past her bare legs, she stopped at the bottom of the steps and realized that she was standing at the very same place that the walkway leading from the bar would have been, had the flood not swallowed it up.She was waist deep in the murky rainwater, and was not looking forward to wading through the rest of it to get out of town and to beach.

But wade she did, one step at a time, fighting the currents the entire way and trying to ignore whenever random items would float near to brush against her sides.Refugees from flooded houses, everything from children's toys to actual doors were floating on the surface of the water, all alone until they sank to the bottom with the dozens of other household items that had preceded them.For some reason, seeing the floodwaters swallow things such as baby rattles and stuffed animals that a child had probably adored at one time or another only increased Tifa's resolve to beat out Mother Nature.Gritting her teeth, she forced strength into her legs and determination into her heart. Strands of dark brown hair flopped into her eyes to join the raindrops in their attempt to obscure her vision.The currents tried their hardest to knock her legs out from under her and send her floating back to the bar.

Yet, still she pressed on.She could feel in her heart that Reno needed her.The magnitude of emotion was so strong, in fact, that it was as if she heard his voice calling to her from afar, pleading, begging.And when she heard that soundless voice and scented the blood from that horrible internal wound, rank and vicious on the winds, her own heart began to ache.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, fifteen minutes found her striding wearily to the beach, boots sloshing through puddles and into grass that was already laced through with the sand that foretold of the inevitable destination of her path.Tifa hugged herself with her arms in attempt to preserve what little warmth she had left in her body.In front of her, the sight of the ocean spreading out in all directions with the storm clouds churning angrily overhead incited such a deep terror – an abysmal feeling of utter _helplessness_ – that she nearly whirled on heel and strode back to Kalm.

The only thing that kept her advancing was the lonely figure with fiery red hair seated in the sand, staring out to sea.Reno had taken off his navy blue suit jacket, and the article of clothing was lying next to him on the sand, rain pooling in the saturated cloth.His back was to her, and his waterlogged white shirt, made transparent by the rain, clung to his skin like Shiva's icy embrace.The rain had also dyed his hair an even darker shade of red, so that his ponytail looked like a river of blood frozen in its course down the middle of his back.Amazingly enough, the wild spikes that stuck up from the top of his head – physical evidence of his belligerent nature – hadn't been forced into submission by the rain, and were still sticking up in all their rebellious glory.

_He looks so lonely,_ Tifa thought sadly as she came up behind him cautiously, boots sinking into the wet sand.He was seated with his one of his long legs drawn up to his chest, his elbow resting on his knee.The other leg was spread lazily across the sand in front of him, rain pooling in the dent that the heel of his boot was making in the sand.Her heart ached for him.

"Hey, Reno," she greeted softly, wondering if he could even hear her over the rain."Can I sit here?"

"Free country," he said shortly, not even bothering to turn his head.He had probably already known she was there, anyways.

Still hugging herself protectively, Tifa eased her body down and knelt in the sand close to Reno's side, folding her legs beneath her as gracefully as humanly possible.She suddenly felt a fluttering in her stomach and labeled it as "nervous."This was the first time she and Reno had been alone – first time they had really _spoken_ to each other since their ill-timed embrace a couple of days ago.Tifa had a sinking feeling inside her that Reno had worsened since then.He wouldn't have been out here otherwise, then, would he?

"What are you doing out here?" Reno suddenly asked quietly, aquamarine eyes riveted on the churning sea ten feet away from where they were seated.

_You called me out here,_ Tifa wanted to say.

But instead she said softly, "I was worried about you."

Reno snorted."Why?" he demanded harshly.

Tifa immediately grew tired of the little game he was playing."Don't run from it, Reno," she said as unobtrusively as she could, lest she anger him."I know it's hurting you, maybe even killing you.I'm…I'm here for you, Reno."

"Are you?" Reno asked flatly, suddenly reaching over and picking up his suit jacket from the sand next to him.Wringing water out of it, he continued, "What if I told you that you had come all the way out here just to hear me say that I'm not going to tell you jack shit about what I'm feeling?"

Tifa turned her head to the side and stared at him, suddenly feeling tears dancing in her eyes where sparks of anger should have been forming.She could hear the pain in his voice, and she knew that he heard it as well.Only, Reno was never one to give in to pain, so he twisted and mutilated it into harsh words laced with bitter poison, meant to drive people away and thus protect the impregnable walls he had erected around his heart.

_How lonely,_ Tifa thought, _if he's been doing this his entire life, shoving people away repeatedly…he must be so lonely…all the time._

Tifa suddenly smiled, surprising them both."I don't care," she said lightly."I'll just stay out here and watch the sea with you.I'm not going to abandon you, Reno."

The redheaded Turk suddenly turned to her, suspicion clouding and disguising the pain in his eyes."Are you for real?" he asked sharply, clutching his damp jacket to himself as if he were ready to leave at any moment. 

Tifa turned to him and smiled gently."I'm not going anywhere Reno.I'm here for you."

Reno's harsh expression wavered violently, his walls crumbling under the barrage of friendship as her soul searched for his, seeking to ease his pain.

"Tell me about her," Tifa urged softly, eyes locked fearlessly onto his.

His brow suddenly creased in distress – a most disarming expression when seen on Reno – and he abruptly turned his face away from her, staring at the jacket he had clutched in his lap, heedless of the raindrops rolling down his scarred cheeks like tears.For a split second, it almost seemed like the scars themselves were weeping.

"Who was she, Reno?" Tifa whispered, almost bold enough to touch his shoulder."Who was Mika?"

Reno flinched, something that Tifa had never seen him do before.She knew she was risking a lot, going at him like this – urging his wound to bleed even more – but it was the only thing she knew to do.Her mother used to squeeze the flesh around her cuts when she was little, Tifa recalled.

_She had said the wound would be cleansed by its own blood._

"Why does it matter – who she was?" Reno suddenly asked softly, his eyes still averted."She was just a person in my past…"

"But your past is still part of you, Reno," Tifa said quietly, feeling his pain starting to trickle out, drop by lonely drop.Just like hers.

"She's dead, you know," Reno suddenly said coldly.

"You still grieve for her?" Tifa asked softly, knowing how hard this was for him.

Reno closed his eyes, rain cascading from his fiery hair and down his eyelids."Maybe," he admitted quietly."A part of me does.A part of me always will."His voice suddenly hardened."But Mika belonged to another man."

"Another man?"

"Yeah.Another Reno.The person I was then is drastically different from the person I am now.I was another man, then.And now…" he opened his eyes and looked at Tifa "…that man is _dead_."

Burgundy locked onto aquamarine."Are you sure, Reno?"

Once again, the harshness in his eyes faltered, long eyelashes fluttering closed over his Mako eyes and then opening again."I used to be sure," he said quietly."But lately…"His voice trailed off, but Tifa already knew what he wanted to say.

_Ever since you mentioned her name in the bar, her ghost has returned to haunt me._

"Are you sure you want to stay?" Reno asked, eyes boring into hers.

Tifa nodded silently, words escaping her for the moment.

The redheaded Turk looked away and sighed deeply – a heartbreakingly sad sound – and suddenly reached out to drape his jacket around Tifa's shoulders, shielding her from some of the raindrops.

"Thank you," Tifa said softly, touched by the thoughtful action.She drew the jacket closer around herself, not caring that the cloth was just as soaked as her own clothes were.

Reno shrugged and turned his face up the sky, letting the raindrops strike him ruthlessly on the face again and again.His aquamarine eyes glittered dully even though there was no sunlight to ignite their glow.

"I've never told this story to anyone, you know," Reno whispered.

Tifa nodded in understanding, her heart aching for him."I know this isn't going to be easy for you," she said, slipping her hand into his."But for what it's worth, I'm here with you."

Reno looked down at her hand held in his.Her slender fingers, though callused from years and years of extensive training, were dwarfed by his hand.Without her gloves, her hand looked pale and naked and lonely, and she wondered if his would look the same if he were to remove the fingerless gloves that were like a second skin for him.Gently, he rubbed his thumb against the back of her hand, as if fascinated by such soft skin on a tough woman like her.The touch sent pleasurable shivers down her spine, and though Tifa was slightly surprised at the intimacy in that simple gesture, she only held onto Reno's hand more tightly. 

Fingers intertwined with hers, Reno returned his gaze up to the sky, eyes slipping closed against the sight of the piercing raindrops and the sky-shattering lightening streaking across the horizon.The pale skin of his face shone like the porcelain skin of some marble god, flawless except for the twin lines of those two scars, marring his rugged good looks forever.Raindrops rolled down his face like tears as Tifa watched his eyelashes fluttering slightly.

Then his eyes slowly slid open, and she suddenly received the impression that a different man was now sitting with her.There was no laughter in those eyes, no mockery, no humor.The rain had washed these things away.Beside her now was a man with sad eyes shot through with bitterness that hid a deep well of hatred in their depths.

Reno lowered his face from the churning sky, eyes half-closed as he fell deep into the embrace of memory.

Then he began to speak.

"I guess it must have been seven years ago that this whole shitty mess began.I was eighteen, then, and it was way before Tseng picked me up off the streets and cleaned me up, so to speak.I didn't even know what the Turks were back then, and Shinra was just a mediocre electric company in the process of making its way to the top.As you probably already know, I grew up the slums.My father was a drunkard, and my mom had run off on us a long time ago.I was independent and in the streets by the time I was twelve.I had killed a man when I was ten.Not a very clean killing, mind you.Got my hands and clothes drenched in the guy's blood.For some reason, ever since then, I just didn't have the nerve to make any friends or get close to anyone.I kept getting the stupid idea that everyone I met was going to bleed all over me or something dumb like that.

"Anyways, so I didn't have any real friends.Just a bunch of lowlifes like me who I bought drugs from once in a while.They would cover my back in a fight if they felt like it, and I would do the same, if I was in the mood.You know, not real close or anything.A couple of them had sisters who would give me a lay once in a while for free, but I was mostly on my own in those days.

"I had been living in a neighborhood in Sector 2 for a while when I heard about a new girl who worked the corner near my apartment."He looked at Tifa."You know what that terminology means, right?"

Tifa nodded."She was a whore."

"Yeah.Believe me when I say that the Sector 2 I lived in then was a lot worse than any of the Sectors during the rise of Sephiroth a year ago.Much as I hate to admit it, Shinra did manage to cut the petty crimes down just a little bit.But Shinra was virtually nonexistent then, and crimes and prostitution were really bad then.Not that I minded or anything.Anyhow, to spare all the gory details, I decided to see what was up with this girl.We didn't get many new people back then, and all the other girls in the neighborhood were getting boring.It was just simple curiosity, really.At least, that's what it started off as.

"Well, it was nighttime when I first laid eyes on her, naturally.She was…stunning.The most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my entire life, and I had thought I had seen them all.But there was something different about her, and I think that's what drew me to her in the first place.I watched her from the shadows for a little while from the shadows, just to see how she worked.She didn't seem to be incredibly bright – a rather naïve and maybe even dumb one, that woman, actually.It was obvious that she didn't really know what she was doing.Hell, maybe I was moved to pity by her sheer ignorance.Or was it just her stupidity?I still don't know today, but that night I decided to approach her.Why I did it, I don't know.I didn't have any money or any need to take her to bed even though it was clear that she was attractive.Maybe I just felt sorry for her or something.

"That's probably it because when I got up to her, I told her in so many words that I basically wanted to 'be her friend.'And she, in so many words, told me that if I didn't have any money, I should 'buzz off', to put it nicely.

"So I buzzed off.For a day or so.I was back again the next night.

"Of course, she wasn't very pleased to see me, but I didn't care.I was having a good old time.I liked her, I guess.I wanted to protect her.I didn't want just any sleazy guy touching her.It took while, but eventually we hit it off.At first she didn't like me hanging around because I 'scared off' her clients, even though I didn't – and still don't – think I'm that much of a scary guy.But then she actually started to look happy to see me whenever I walked up to her every night to bug her.I guess that surprised me a bit.No one ever looked happy to see me before.Made my heart feel kind of funny, but that's beside the point.To make a long story short, we started seeing each other during the day as well.I got her off the streets and we started living together.

"Her name was Alette, and she told me that she had come to Midgar from some land very far off, to escape from an oppressive family or something.Actually, the words she used were 'family curse' but I just assumed she had had abusive relatives or something.She didn't seem particularly smart or shrewd or anything, which you had to watch out for since in those days some of the slum girls were more intelligent and cunning than the men that claimed to control them.But I thought Alette was basically harmless so I wasn't at all worried.Looking back, however, I remember that she used to get this dark look in her eyes whenever she was alone – a dark, pensive look that now makes me think that she might have been feigning stupidity the entire time.But I was young then.Young and stupid, and I thought she was even younger and even stupider than I was.

"Of course, when a man like me is living in an apartment alone with an attractive woman like her, it's hard to keep oneself restrained.So soon we started sleeping together, and one day I came home only to have her tell me that she was pregnant.

"She wanted to get rid of it, but I didn't.I was curious as to what it would feel like to have a baby around the house.I was damn excited.Alette wasn't nearly so happy.She was yelling and crying and telling me that we couldn't afford a baby and that we were too young to be raising a family.I was laughed at her for a while and then I asked her to marry me.That sold her.I knew it would.It had always been one of her dreams: to get married.

"So we got married – legally, mind you – in this shitty old church with a priest who had had one tequila too many and one of the local pimps as our witness.It was great.Alette was ecstatic, and I had to admit that I felt kind of warm and fuzzy and all that good shit when I said, 'I do.'It was like nothing else existed but me and her.I think that during those first months, I actually knew some measly shred of happiness.

"But I didn't want to be happy.I knew all too well that when you were happy, there would always be someone to come along and take that happiness away.And what were you left with then?Nothing but the shards of a broken heart and a razor to slit your wrists with, if you were lucky.So I reverted back into my old laid back self, with half-hearted smiles and hollow words.But if Alette noticed, she didn't care.She was nervous about having the baby, but I could tell that she was taking some pride in walking around with that swollen belly and getting the nursery ready.Sometimes, at night, I would wake up and hear her talking to the baby while it was still in her womb, and I would strain to hear what she was saying, but she was speaking a different language – her native tongue.I could only understand a few words of it, so I always went back to sleep.

"Finally, one day when I came home from work to see her lying on the floor in the living room, her body shaking with the contractions that always came before the birth of a baby.She was sweating like a goddamn pig and breathing so hard that I thought she was going to freaking _die_ or something!I'm not ashamed to admit that I freaked out.I mean, we lived in a shitty apartment in the shitty slums with shitty neighbors so there was no one who could have given us advice on what to do in these kinds of situations!I spent about five minutes running around the apartment like a chocobo with its head cut off, and every time Alette would yell at me, I would just yell back at her.I had no idea what to do!But eventually, after I had decided that she didn't have just gas or cramps or anything like that, it hit me that, hey, this damn woman is having a baby on our living room floor!

"It took a lot of coaxing and yelling at each other, but I finally got Alette down to the car and on our way to the nearest hospital.We had a 'medical center' in Sector 2, but I didn't trust the freakos there as far as I could throw them so I got the bright idea to drive clear over to Sector 5, where there was a place that could actually be called a real hospital.Of course, Alette was in labor in the passenger seat and there I was going berserk in the driver's seat so the trip was far from pleasant.I don't even remember it that well, to tell you the truth.I think I knocked over a couple of mailboxes and ran over a fire hydrant, but…oh well.The point is that I made it to the hospital in time for the doctors to deliver the baby.It was a baby girl.

"That girl was named Mikayela Dayanera Mitsuru.

"But from the very beginning, we just called her 'Mika.'"

Something caught in Reno's voice, and he suddenly fell silent, words trailing into nothing as he squinted against the rain, staring out at the churning ocean.Tifa squeezed his hand, reassuring him of her presence while her mind virtually clanked out loud, trying to process all she had just heard.

_His…daughter.I had been expecting a wife on an ex-lover, but never a…little girl.Mika…_

Tifa wanted to say something to him, encourage him to get his entire story out and purge his soul of the pain festering within, but words failed her.She didn't feel as if it was her right to speak at a time like this.Her throat was unbearably tight, and she could only gaze at Reno's scarred profile with overbright eyes until he finally pulled in a deep breath…and continued.

"I loved that little girl.Loved her with every fiber of my being.I had never really loved another human being until her.Mainly because I believed that all of mankind was foul and corrupt, and everyone was out to get me.I cared for Alette, and after Mika was born, I _did_ love that woman, but it was an obligatory sort of love.She was the mother of my child.I _had_ to love her, you know?But with Mika it was totally different.I loved her the very second I held her in my arms.I didn't care that she was screaming her little head off and was covered with all that gross nasty stuff that newborns always have on them.She was just the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.She had red hair, but it was much darker than mine – more like auburn.Her eyes, when she opened them, were brown like Alette's, but they had blue-green flecks around the pupil.I had never seen anything so delicate or innocent as her.

"It was then that I decided that I would protect this baby, my daughter, with my life.The poison that had tainted me would never touch her.Never.

"So I gave up everything for that baby.Everything.Drinking.Smoking.Running around with my gang member friends.I held down two jobs and managed to get us out of that crappy old apartment and into a real house.It was still in the slums, but, hey, beggars can't be choosers.Alette stayed home and took care of Mika during the day while I worked.Alette loved Mika almost as much as I did.She played with her and took her in the park in this old baby stroller that I had 'bought' from our neighbors.I didn't like her taking Mika out by herself since I woman and a baby alone just scream vulnerability, you know?But Alette just laughed and said that she was 'one tough bitch' and could take care of Mika by herself.I laughed with her.

"That first year was hard, but damn it, I was happy.Nothing else existed for me but my wife and my daughter.Shinra had risen to power and was at war with Wutai, but I really didn't give a damn.As long as nothing intruded on my little world, I was fine.I worked my ass into the ground to keep my family fed and to bring home toys for Mika every once in a while, and as long as I could see that little girl when I got home, no work was too hard or strenuous for me.I brought her home baby rattles even though I got bashed in that head with those things I don't know how many times.Mika was also fond of flinging baby food at us, but…what was the loss of a couple of shirts pitted against the laughter of my daughter?So many things were insignificant when compared to my little girl.Drugs and drinking were things of the past, and I felt a strange sort of pride that I was no longer reliant on those sorts of things.I'd like to thing that I was a good person, all those years ago.

"I was a nice guy.I really was.

"But…but…I should have learned my fucking lesson years before.Life is a bitch.Life is the biggest bitch anyone will ever have to deal with.Fate will chew you up and spit you out and trample over you if given half a chance.Human life isn't shit in the Planet's eyes.Anyone who believes that is seriously deluded.Surrendering to total happiness is just flat out stupid, and that was the biggest mistake that I have ever made in my entire miserable life.

"Five years ago, I believe, is when the shit hit the fan.Mika was two by then.I was twenty.I never knew Alette's age so I couldn't tell you how old she was.I came home from work one day and Mika toddled up to me like she usually did.She was always happy to see me, that little girl.But this time, she tugged on my shirt until I picked her up, and then she refused to let go.I didn't know what was wrong with her, and I couldn't find Alette anywhere in the house.I tried to put Mika down so that I could look around, but she just held me tighter.Poor girl was trembling; she was scared to death.Most little girls her age were afraid of dogs and spiders and snakes, but Mika was never one to scare easily.For something to frighten her so bad that she became clingy like that was rare.

"The only thing that I could think of that might have scared her was, obviously, the fact that she was alone in the goddamn house…for who knows how long.Alette was nowhere to be found, and I searched the place high and low to the best of my abilities with Mika clinging to my neck.It was only after half an hour of searching that I thought to ask Mika where her mother was.But when I did ask, she started to cry.Now, I can't stand to see people cry.It bothers me.And when women or babies, especially little girls, start bawling, I just can't take it.It's like I can't breathe or something.And this was my own daughter crying so that made me all the more nervous.

"It took a lot of soothing and rocking but eventually she told me that there had been a 'tall man' in the house.Of course, every person is 'tall' to a two-year-old girl, but the point was that there had been a stranger in the house.I was immediately thinking some cutthroat thief had snuck into the house, taken Alette, but had somehow passed up Mika.She had just gotten a new set of building blocks the week before, and she was real quiet when she was building her 'dollhouses' so she wouldn't wake the 'babies'.It was only logical that an intruder would pass her up.

"But then Mika told me that the 'tall man' had talked with her 'mama' and then the two of them had left the house together, through the front door.That just stunned me.Alette had let a strange man into the house and then gone out with him, leaving a two-year-old in the house by herself?Alette's purse was still in our room, and she had apparently had enough time to lock the door behind her so I really didn't think that she had been forced out of the house.If it was a thief, he would have told her to bring her purse.And Mika said that the 'tall man' didn't even touch Alette and that Alette had just followed him out the door.

"For me, that description only meant one thing: she was messing around with someone behind my back.Nowadays, I really could care less about that sort of thing.Some of the women I sleep with are married.But at that time, it was unforgivable.It was even worse that she had let the bastard into the house where Mika could see him.

"In short, I was pissed._Royally_ pissed.

"By the grace of God, Mika was asleep when I heard the front door open and shut quietly.It was Alette, of course, sneaking into our house like she was some sort of dirty prowler.

"I flew off the handle.What can I say?I'm not known for my patience and tranquility.I was yelling and screaming and ranting.It was 'how could you leave Mika alone in the house, you stupid bitch?!' and 'don't think I don't know what you're doing, you damn whore!'.Some of the most horrible things I've ever said in my entire life were said on that night.And the entire time, Alette just stared at me with this dumb, vacant look on her face.She didn't say anything in her defense, just stood there looking stupid.No remorse.No apologies.No anger.Just…that empty look, like someone had torn her brain out of her head and she could no longer function.

"I made her sleep on the couch that night, and she did without any protest.I stayed in our room with Mika, but I didn't sleep at all that night.I just sat in the chair beside the bed, watching my little girl while she slept, and all my thoughts were filled with rage and vindictiveness.The only thing that I could think about was how to make Alette sorry for how much she had frightened my daughter.Now, as I look back, I wish I had been thinking differently.I wish I could have just reflected on Mika and how much I loved her, and how her two years of existence had been the two happiest years in my life.I wish my thoughts hadn't been so poisonous, and now it seems a blasphemy that I gazed upon her sleeping form and thought those kinds of angry thoughts.Visions of violence were just something that you didn't see when in the presence of Mika.Unforgivable.Just as what Alette did was unforgivable.I suppose that dumb bitch and I really were suited for each other, in the end.

"The next morning dawned like any other.I got ready for work, and Mika went to play with her blocks like she did every single day of her short life.Mika, bless her heart, didn't seem to realize what was happening.She ran up and hugged her mother first thing in the morning, babbling cheerfully like most two-year-olds do, painfully oblivious to everything, a silent repellent for evil.Mika never guessed what a foul creature her mother was.

"But I did.I knew.Yet, it was an epiphany that I hadn't wanted, really.I like delusions as much as the next human, after all.

"I really didn't want to leave Mika home alone with Alette, but…I guess…I really honestly didn't think that Alette would do anything to harm her own daughter.

"Yet, somehow, deep inside of me, I knew that something bad was going to happen.I've always been that way.Tseng once said that it was the Wutainese blood in me that whispered such secrets to me, but of course, I didn't know this at the time.But I remember Mika exactly as she was just as I was getting ready to go out the door.Sitting in the living room, building a castle with those old wooden blocks of hers that she loved so much, despite their simplicity.She was wearing a pink dress that was way to big for her.Have you ever heard the saying that redheads shouldn't wear red or pink since it'll clash with their hair or something?Well, apparently the rule applied to all other redheads but my daughter.She looked beautiful in that dress even though it practically reached down to her feet and hung off of her shoulders a little bit. 

"I called goodbye to her, like I always did.She looked up and smiled happily at me, waving goodbye silently since she didn't want to wake up the queen's baby that was living in her castle.

"And that was the last time I ever saw my daughter alive.

"I came home that evening with a heavy heart.An odd feeling had settled in my chest sometime during the day, and it didn't fade no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.And somehow, I knew that it had something to do with Mika.

"So I rushed into my house, only to be greeted by silence.Mika knew by instinct the time that I came home, and she was always there to run up and hug me.But this time I didn't see her or Alette.All I saw were Mika's blocks abandoned on the floor of the living room, still resembling the castle she had been building earlier that morning.But my daughter was nowhere to be seen.

"I knew something was wrong.I ran all over the house, calling Mika's name and looking in all the rooms, but I found nothing.I did, however, find Alette sitting in a chair in our room.She wasn't doing anything, just sitting there staring at something in her hands, completely unaware of anything around her.I yelled at her and demanded where Mika was, but she didn't reply.She didn't even _look_ at me, goddamn her.

"I cussed at her and left the room, searching the house again and even running over to the neighbors and asking if they had seen Mika.They hadn't.By then my sanity was tottering on the edge of nothingness.I stormed back into my house and somehow found myself back in our room.Alette was still there, just sitting in that goddamn chair, all close-lipped and shit.I start yelling again.I don't even remember what I said.All I knew was that my daughter was gone, most likely dead.And I knew that Alette had done it.Or had had something to do with it.

"But still, I didn't really truly believe it until I saw what Alette was fiddling with in her hands.

"It was one of Mika's blocks.And was blood on one side of it.I know what blood looks like.I grew up on the streets, after all.

"_That_ is when I snapped.I've never hit a woman in my entire life – outside of battle – but once it dawned on me that I was facing the woman who had killed my daughter, I just couldn't take it.I hit her.Hard.Right on the face, too.She nearly fell out of her chair, but then she bounced back like some kind of rag doll and went back to toying with that godforsaken block that had belonged to the daughter she had killed with her own hands.By then I was crazy.I was running around the room and breaking things left and right.Screaming.I think I was crying as well.I couldn't get the image of Mika in her pink dress out of my mind.Then I thought about the bloody wooden block in Alette's hands, and it just drove me closer to the edge.

"I was out of control.There wasn't shit left in the room when I was done with it.I had even overturned the whole goddamn bed, possessed by some demonic strength that came with the knowledge that my baby girl was gone forever.The only things intact were Alette and her goddamn chair.Even though she still wasn't looking at anything but the bloody block in her hands, I stormed over to her, my hands clenched into fists.

"But I didn't touch her.I yelled at her, and I can recall very clearly what I said to her.These words are engraved in my mind to this very day.

"'I'm leaving,' I told her, my voice so twisted in rage that I barely recognized it as my own.'You'd better run away while I'm gone, because if I get back and you're still here, I'm gonna to fuckin' kill you!Hell, if I ever SEE you again in my entire life, I'll twist your head off your neck!You hear me?!I'll KILL you!' 

"And I meant it.Every.Single.Word.I've never truly hated a person in my entire life until Alette, and that day began my rapid descent into darkness.

"I left the house for…I don't even know how long.We had been putting away money for Mika's schooling, but I went and sucked the account dry.Spent all that money on booze and drugs.I don't know where I slept that night or who I slept with, but the next day I tottered home with a gun in my hand and a beer bottle in the other.Alette was gone.I never saw her again, either.

"A week – two weeks?Three weeks?Time meant nothing to me – later, there was a news report saying that the body of a dead child had washed up at the local sewage plant.I was in a bar when I heard the report, and I shattered the TV in a grief-stricken rage.Stupid thing to do, actually.I ended up with a bleeding hand and two days in the slammer.

"Of course, they let me out.They always did.And of course, I went back out to the slums and back to being the street rat that I am.You know, it's terrible now that I try to look back and realize that it's as if an entire year of my life is missing.I really remember nothing in that year after Mika's death and Alette's disappearance.I was a body without a soul or heart.Never once did I stop to ask myself why in the world Alette would have killed her own daughter.There was no motive.I never asked myself just who Mika's 'tall man' was or if he might have had something to do with her death.

"For a year, I was just in a void.A dead man walking.Once and a while, a face will float in my mind, and I know that the person is from that time period, but my story and my life ended the day my daughter died.

"And everything else is just history, and my life is nothing but a scratch in the Planet's timeline.Petty and insignificant, just as it was meant to be.And…there's nothing more to tell, really."

The silence seemed so loud after Reno's voice had trailed off into nothing.Tifa was at an utter loss for words.Nothing she could say would be capable of expressing what she was feeling; nothing she could say could acknowledge to the exquisite pain held in the story that she had just heard with her own ears – a story about the pain of love and a man's descent into darkness.A darkness that had sunk sinister talons into his heart, refusing to give up its victim.

Was it dark – where Reno was?Was there even a slim possibility of light reaching him?Would he even see it if it were there?

All these thoughts ran through Tifa's mind, but her heart would not allow her to give them voice.For a moment, she could do nothing but stare at Reno, her fingers still numbly clutched in his, as if afraid he would drift away if she were to let go.The man's eyes were lowered so that only a slim line of aquamarine was visible, still misted with the pain of his story and very, very distant, seeing a place that no one else could see.Tendrils of blood-red hair hung down into his face, dripping silent tears of rain onto his already saturated clothes, heedless of the other raindrops that had already made their homes in the fibers of his clothing.And his scars seemed to weep along with every other part of him.

"I like the rain," Reno suddenly said, voice low and quiet.

Tifa blinked, and her voice suddenly came back to her."Really?" she whispered."Why?"

Dark eyelashes curled by rain lifted slightly, exposing more pained aquamarine."Because," Reno replied."No one can tell the difference between rain and tears…"

"Reno," Tifa murmured, his name one single, breathless exclamation before she wrapped her arms around him.

It was not a warm embrace – at least, in the physical sense.Her skin was cold, as was his.Cold from rain and other things.But the heart's whisper that had told her to take him in her arms was warm in the purest sense of the word, as was the blood that coursed through his body in a river of pain.For a moment, Reno's body was as rigid and immovable as a marble statue, but something in him seemed to relax, like a sigh expelled into the rain-clouded air, and he wrapped his arms around her slender waist, burying his face in her shoulder.

Tifa tightened her grip on his shoulders, fingers digging into the skin whose pale pallor was visible through the saturated dress shirt he wore.She was afraid to let him go, and she didn't know why.Or maybe she did.Maybe she knew that this "Reno" that she was holding in her arms didn't have much time left before he returned to being the Reno that had made his domain in the present.She knew that in a few moments, Reno Mitsuru, father of Mika, husband of the treacherous Alette, would buckle and surrender to the man that was only known as Reno of the Turks.No last name.Turks didn't need them.

But to think that this seemingly callous, insensitive creature resting in her embrace had the heart in him to keep ties with the man he used to be.She was certain that Reno knew his past had made him into the man he was today, for what else could have done it?That one face, that one little girl in an oversized pink dress playing with her blocks on the floor, had managed to innocently endear herself to a man that made his living by murdering others until a year ago.That such an innocent child could exercise such unwitting control over Reno even from the grave was something Tifa had thought unthinkable.Unthinkable and impossible.

Reno was a Turk.He was supposed to be a monster.All Turks were supposed to be monsters.They weren't supposed to love anyone.

But Reno defied all the above assumptions.And with his defiance, all of Tifa's prejudices against the Turks were forced down from their lofty height where they had previously blocked her reasoning and closed her normally open mind.

Unobtrusively, Tifa raised her hand and placed it on Reno's head, fingers sinking into the blood-red strands.Warmth seeped from his scalp into her cold palm.Yes, this was a human in her arms.A human with a heart that bled just like anyone else's.A man whose only real mistake in life had been to fall in love with a little girl and believe that he could lead something resembling a normal life.How sad it was, the fate that had befallen Reno Mitsuru.

Tifa had to shut her eyes against the tears that were threatening to spill from them."Reno," she whispered to the darkness behind her eyelids."Is there…anything I can do for you?"

He shifted in her arms."I don't know," he said seriously."I don't know many things right now.I don't know why I dream of Mika so often as if late.Even in drunken stupors, I still see her face.I don't know why her ghost has returned to haunt me now.And I don't…" he pulled back from her embrace and suddenly touched her on the face, forcing her to open her eyes "…know why I told this story to you, of all people."

Tifa smiled weakly, seeing only quiet curiosity in his eyes."Am I really that bad of a person to tell it to?" she joked.

No grin came to Reno's mouth, but a flash of amusement flickered in his eyes, a ghost of his old humor starting to return.But a dark cloud seemed to fall over his face, and he said, "I'm poison, Tifa.You know that, don't you?I really meant what I said to Alette all those years ago.If I ever see that woman again in my life, I WILL kill her.It's the only way I can put my daughter's soul to rest."

"By spilling the blood of her mother," Tifa whispered, and the beat of her heart in her chest was suddenly more painful than before."But…surely there's another way?"

Reno looked away, eyes turning back to the sea again, back to the churning waves and dark horizon."It's the only way I know how to deal with it," he said, voice sounding a bit melancholy.

"I see," Tifa replied quietly, voice so soft it could barley be heard over the rain.She looked down at her hands, which she had apparently wrung together in her lap at one point.Each hand was embracing the other, looking cold and frightened, especially without her gloves.

Another hand – clad in a black, fingerless glove – suddenly swooped down to cover her own clasped ones, completely dwarfing them.A faint wave of Reno's warmth suddenly surrounded her, and she felt him press a soft kiss to her forehead, brushing aside the soaked bangs that were obscuring his way.

"Thank you, Tifa," he whispered, lips moving against her skin, his body so close to hers."Thank you for listening to me."

She had never thought that hands so murderous could be so gentle.But they were.His fingers tenderly brushed aside the tendrils of dark hair clinging to her cheeks, cradling her face with both of her large hands and smiling gently at her until she couldn't resist but smile back, the silent between them speaking louder than any words could have.

But the words were still there._I'm sorry_, Tifa desperately wanted to say._I'm sorry for your pain, Reno.I'm sorry that I feel to helpless right now.I want to help you, Reno.I really do._

Yet, she knew that now was not the time for such words.So all she could do was squeeze his hands gently as they slid away from her face, fingers lingering for a second that maybe shouldn't have been there, but for once, she didn't care.

As his aquamarine gaze slipped sadly back to the sea, she asked, "Are you coming back to the bar now?"

She knew his answer before the words left his mouth."No.You go on back.I'll stay here for a while.I need to return to myself." 

Tifa nodded with great reluctance, forcing herself to get to her wobbly feet."Of course," she told him softly, removing his Turks jacket from her shoulders and slipping it back onto his."But don't forget to return to us after you're done, alright?"

Reno didn't respond, but she knew that he understood.

The walk back to Kalm seemed so much longer this time around.She kept turning around to glance back at the solitary figure on the beach, lonely against the backdrop of the monstrous ocean whipping and churning in the distance.Her heart ached for him.And she kept hearing his voice, over and over, saying, _"I'd like to think that I was a good person…I was a nice guy…I really was…I really was…was…"_

_Could you sympathize with my needs_

_I know you think I need a lot_

_I started out clean but I'm jaded_

_Just falling in_

_Well, just breaking the skin_

_Can you help me I'm bent_

_I'm so scared that I'll never_

_Get put back together_

_Keep breaking me in_

_And this is how we will live_

_With you and me…bent_

_"Bent" _

_Matchbox 20_

_ _

* * * * * * * * * *

_Author's Notes:Well, there it is.Can't say I'm really happy with it, but that's just me!Hmm…I had a lot to say, but I can't seem to remember what I wanted to say.Oh yeah, if you didn't read the lyrics in the beginning, go back and read them now!They describe Reno's story perfectly!And if you've never heard the song…what wrong with you?^_^It's great, really.And there was something else…I found a Yuffie clone in the anime fandom!If you're looking for someone whose personality and appearance are so similar to Yuffie's that it's creepy, check out Misao Makimachi from Rurouni Kenshin!She's so freaking hilarious, just like Yuffie!And she's a bandit, as well!I think she appears in Ep. 30-something.She's great!One last thing: I saw the FF movie yesterday.Did anyone else think that it was sort of…bad?-_-Shouldn't have tried to go "science fiction" on us…Anyways, thanks to anyone who's reading this!Ja ne, minna-san!~Catalina_

_ _

_Coming Soon from Catalina's Lazy-Ass Extraordinare Productions:_

_"Sink to the Bottom With You Ch. 24: Yuffie in Chains"_

_ _

_You won't wanna miss it!^_^_


	24. Taste of Fear

Taste of Fear

**_Taste of Fear_**

_"Hey, Vincent, are ya dead, man?" Cloud Strife_

_ _

_A court is in session, a verdict is in  
No appeal on the docket today  
Just my own sin  
The walls are cold and pale  
The cage made of steel  
Screams fill the room  
Alone I drop and kneel  
  
_

_"My Own Prison"_

_Creed_

_ _

Yuffie tugged on her shackles experimentally, testing the strength of the new chain links.A frown creased her face.These new ones were even stronger than the previous ones she had been wearing while Titus and Fa-Li had been escorting her to the chamber she was now held in.Her heart sank when she realized that there was little, if any, chance that she was going to be shattering these chains, but she wasn't about to let her captors in on her fatalistic little conclusion.

"You know," she said to Titus in a psuedo-friendly tone."This was a really STUPID way to chain me up."

The blond-haired man stared up at her calmly."You don't say?" he replied."It's worked for every other prisoner who has been tortured down here."

Yuffie's heart clenched at the word "torture" but she forced herself to remain calm.Unfortunately, while she was still trying to gather her wits, her motormouth was chattering away without her.

"Yeah, see, this method is /_totally/_ imprudent since the chain length is way too long, leaving too much exposed length for, like, someone to shoot, for example.And why did you have to pin my arms up like this?I'm going to loose circulation in my hands, and then I won't be able to feel any pain so that would kind of defeat the whole purpose of torturing me in the first place, you know?It was, however, pretty darn smart of you to chain up my feet because, let me tell you, I got one mean—"

"Oh god!" Fa-Li exclaimed in exasperation from where she was leaning against the wall across from the platform Yuffie was standing."Some_one_ shut her up, _please_!For the love of god!"

Titus didn't share his companion's frustration; he actually looked rather amused."Come now, Fa-Li," he chastised the woman, though his gaze remained locked on Yuffie."She's just babbling because she's frightened.Have a heart, why don't you?Enjoy this girl's company while she's still alive, ne?"

Yuffie suddenly became angry – angry at Titus, angry at her helplessness, just flat-out angry."You're full of SHIT," she spat at Titus, a scowl darkening her pretty face.She tried to lash out at the man by kicking him, but unfortunately the chains on her ankles only permitted about a foot of movement in any direction, and Titus was wisely standing out of her kicking range.

A mirthless smile came to Titus' lips as he watched her struggling."So you don't think you're going to die down here?" he asked conversationally.

Yuffie made the meanest face she could muster, tugging on her chains while doing so."No!My friends are going to come for me, and when they do, you're going to be sorry!"

"How very cliché of you to say so," Fa-Li commented.

Titus only laughed softly, green eyes glittering in the dimly lit room.He didn't reply to Yuffie's passionate claim, but she had the distinct feeling that he didn't quite believe her.Hell, she wasn't sure that she believed herself.Giving Titus one last scowl, she focused her attentions on examining her bindings, trying to ignore the fact that both the Running Man and Fa-Li were watching her every movement like a rat watching a piece of cheese.

Her gray eyes followed the length of chain holding up her right arm and saw that it ended at the edge of a circular walkway that completely wrapped around the upper level of the torture chamber.Her left arm was pinned in an identical fashion, successfully immobilizing her arms and leaving her virtually helpless.But as she had told Titus before, the chains were ridiculously long, practically begging to be shattered by one well-placed shot by a gunman or one fell swoop by a swordsman.

_/Vincent could shoot off both of these chains,/_ Yuffie thought triumphantly./_He never misses a shot.If only he and the others could find some way to get down here…/_

Turning back to where Titus was watching her, Yuffie smiled at him charmingly."So, Titus, my good friend, where exactly AM I anyways?"

"In a torture chamber," the man deadpanned.

Yuffie rolled her eyes."Geez, not very bright, are we?I _know_ I'm in a torture chamber, Running Ass!I meant where _am_ I, as in the _general_ location?"

Titus replied calmly, "I know what you were asking, and if you were a bit smarter, you would have noticed that I evaded the question.Not very bright, are we?" he mocked. 

"Shut up," Yuffie snapped at him, frustrated that she couldn't come up with some witty comeback."Let me ask again.Where the hell am I?"

"Let me repeat again.You're in a torture—"

"Okay, okay, okay!!!" Yuffie roared, stamping both of her feet wildly and making her chains jangle unpleasantly."Geez, Titus, you are _such_ an _asshole_, you know that?I mean, I expected you to be KIND OF an asshole, being that you were the one who kidnapped Reeve and…hey!Where is Reeve, anyways?!"

Titus didn't reply.Just stared at her like a dumbass.

_/Gawd.And I thought Vinnie had a thick skull./_

"Tell me!" Yuffie demanded, trying to make herself look intimidating."You'd better tell me right now!"

Titus flicked his hair away from his eye.

"I mean it!I'll kick your ass!"

Titus yawned.

A bad thought suddenly crossed Yuffie's mind."He-He'd better not be dead!"

Titus looked away and scratched his face with one gloved hand.

In the face of his indifference, Yuffie blew her top again."Goddammit!Would you at least LOOK at me when I'm talking to you?!I swear to God, some people have NO manners whatsoever!You're worse than Vincent, and yes, THAT is an insult!Vincent never listens to me when I talk to him!"

_/And that hurts my feelings./_

"All he does is just stand there like a frickin' lump on a log and not even bother to reply to me whenever I…"

_/I miss him./_

"…am in the middle of some important speech that he REALLY should be listening to.You want to hear something?!The other day, he and I were in the chocobo barn…"

_/I want to see him again./_

"…and he was more interested in feeding his damn chocobo than talking to a sparkling conversationalist like MYSELF!!!And you know what made matters worse?!My stupid chocobo pecked me on the hand with her damn beak and it started to bleed and…"

It all happened in the blink of an eye.One second Titus was standing on the floor beneath her, his eye twitching in a rather odd fashion, and the next minute he was suddenly on the platform with her, emerald green eyes glowering down at her coldly, his warm body pressed up against hers.Legs against legs.Hips against hips.Belly against belly.All over.

Many thanks going to the lightening-fast thief reflexes she had acquired over the years, Yuffie only took a moment to stare up at him dumbly before she recoiled from the sudden bodily contact, scrambling back as far as her chains would permit, which wasn't very far at all.

And once again, her mouth took off before she could reign it in.

"Hey!What do you think you're doing?!Get off!There's only room on this platform for one person, you know!Unless of course you want to be tor—"

Titus' long arms suddenly shot out and snagged her around the waist, crushing her against him again, his gloved fingers locked together at the small of her back.Yuffie's eyes widened considerably as an unfamiliar feeling of violation washed over her.Instinctively, she made an attempt to squirm her way out of his firm embrace, but all her movements only reassured her of the fact that she was utterly and completely at this man's mercy.

As long as she was bound and in chains, he could do anything he wanted with her.

Something foul stung the back of her throat, but at the moment, Yuffie had no desire to identify it, as she found herself forced to meet Titus' green eyes.So much like Aeris' that it was downright creepy.Same color, same glitter.Even the light – what meager light there was – hit them in the same fashion, setting alight the ring of azure that resided near the pupil, a color combination that Yuffie had thought only Aeris had.She fidgeted as best she could under Titus' cold glare, for once finding herself at a loss for words.Their faces were only inches apart, and as Titus tossed his head to remove a lock of platinum hair that had flopped into his eye, Yuffie felt a blush rising high in her cheeks.

_/Why couldn't he have been ugly?/_ she wondered furiously./_I was expecting him to be ugly as sin, and instead I get…THIS!!Too gorgeous.Too cruel./_

Dark humor flickered in Titus' eyes."You're blushing," he observed, breath fanning gently against her face."Why?"

Yuffie was about to open her mouth to give a sharp retort when a horrible thought suddenly crossed her mind, and she found herself giving voice to that instead.

"Are you going to rape me?" she blurted.

A sinister smile curled one side of Titus' mouth."Maybe," he murmured, eyes boring into hers.Yuffie gulped, feeling a seedling of fear settle in her heart.

_/No…anything but that…how goddamn disgraceful…/_

"No!" Fa-Li suddenly said sharply. "He's NOT going to rape you!"

Yuffie jumped slightly; she had been so engrossed in her sudden fear of Titus that she had almost forgotten that the woman was there.

With Titus blocking her view, the young ninja couldn't see her, but Yuffie knew that Fa-Li was coming closer by the rapid, agitated clicking of her heeled boots on the stone floor."Rape is not an option," the Wutainese woman continued in a scathing tone."It's just not how we operate down here.Those that reside down here would never sink to such a ghastly low!"

"R-Really?" Yuffie stammered, feeling a sort of meek hope blossom within her.

"You'll have to excuse my companion," Titus suddenly said, his raspy, calm voice recapturing Yuffie's attention."She's rather slow, and doesn't quite grasp the fact that not everything down here is what it seems."

"And YOU should know!" Fa-Li huffed angrily, stomping up to the platform where Titus and Yuffie's forms were crowded against each other."Since you so kindly forsook us and abandoned the organization over a year ago!What do you know!You haven't the right to say anything, Titus!And GET OFF OF THERE!!!"

"She's such a bitch sometimes," Titus whispered to Yuffie confidentially.

"Damn you, Titus!" Fa-Li raged."I said GET OFF OF THERE!!"

The small woman suddenly leapt forward and hooked her dainty fingers through Titus' belt and tugged hard, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase "put your back into it".Judging from the force she applied, Fa-Li was clearly expecting Titus to give some resistance, if not a whole lot of it.But on a moment of mischievous whim, Titus surprised her by releasing Yuffie and hopping backward off the platform at the same time Fa-Li yanked on his belt.The lack of resistance sent the woman completely off balance, and the end result was Fa-Li landing flat on her ass on the floor, with a perfectly composed and rather amused Titus standing next to her.Yuffie just stared dumbly, only thinking of how freaking GLAD she was that Titus was over THERE now instead of crowding up HER torture platform.

"Oh!" Titus suddenly said mockingly, offering a gloved hand to a still stunned Fa-Li."You appear to have fallen.Please, let me help you up."

"@#$% you, Titus!" Fa-Li spat viciously, slapping his hand away and wrestling to her feet rather clumsily, leather bodysuit squeaking with mirth as it hindered most of her movements.

"Are you alright?" Titus asked with a straight face, though his amusement shone loud and clear in his emerald eyes.

"Go to hell," Fa-Li sniffed, still in a fit of rage as she tried to smooth her hair back into place."You're a bastard!"

"That seems to be the popular title for me today," Titus replied, turning his face away from his prissy companion as he seemed to lose interest in the conversation.

Yuffie was starting to feel left out, a sensation she despised like no other."You know," she spoke up, her pseudo-cheerful mood returning now that Titus wasn't literally breathing the same air as her."You have a very dry sense of humor, Titus."

"Really?" he deadpanned.

"Yep," Yuffie said with a nod."You remind of my friend Red XIII."

_/If Titus' stupid Evict didn't eat the little furball…/_

A pale blond eyebrow lifted upwards."I thought you were going to say your friend Vincent Valentine."

The very mention of the name stirred up painful memories that were all too recent, but Yuffie found herself keeping up her façade with the ease of long practice."Vinnie has NO sense of humor at all!Well, there was this one time that he told me that I could piss on myself and—"

Her voice trailed off abruptly as she noticed something interesting on the backs of Titus' gloved hands.Two interesting "somethings", actually.

"What the hell are THOSE?" she demanded, leaning down as far as her chains would permit, curiosity shining in her steel-gray eyes."Grossness!Those things are, like, STUCK onto the backs of your hands!Ew…wait!Are those…MATERIA????Wow!They are, aren't they?Man, I've never seen PURPLE materia before!How about passing some of that over here?Well?"

Rather belatedly, Titus jerked his hands behind his back, hiding the curious objects from Yuffie's materia-hungry eyes.The look on his face was cold and forbidding, silently telling her that it would be in her best interests not to ask any more questions.

Yuffie just stared at him with childish expectance, her vacant expression carefully hiding the whirlwind of questions and observations that a single fleeting glimpse of the strange objects had provided her with.

_/WERE those materia orbs?/_ she wondered furiously./_Couldn't be…they were PURPLE, for one thing.__Secondly, they were literally EMBEDDED in the backs of his hands!Total grossness!Or were they just attached the gloves?I don't know!If only I could see them again…/_

"Well?" she prodded Titus.

He scowled."Well what?"

"Aren't you going to let me see those things again?"

"No.Whatever's on my hands is no business of yours, little girl."

Yuffie made a sour face at him, brows snapping together over stormy gray eyes. "I'm not a little girl!And while we're on the subject of hands, mine are numb!" She jangled the chains holding up her hands to demonstrate.

Titus was unfazed."Your entire body could loose feeling in it, and the torture would still work," he said flatly.

A vise closed on her heart, and she tasted that foulness in the back of her throat again."B-But, when you say 'torture', don't you mean whips and knives and stuff like that?"

"I'm not telling you," Titus replied."It's a SURPRISE."

It was as if someone dropped lead weights on her shoulders.Yuffie sagged against her chains wearily, trying to still the heart that was pounding out of control in her chest.The reality of the situation suddenly came up and brutally slapped her in the face.

"My friends aren't coming for me, are they?" she asked quietly, lowering her head with the hopes of avoiding Titus' eyes, but given their present positions, Titus and those heartbreakingly familiar orbs of emerald green were always going to be lurking beneath her, inescapable.

"It's not that your friends won't come for you," Titus said seriously."They'll try their damn hardest, but they won't find this place.No outsider has ever succeeded in accomplishing such a thing.You mentioned before that the lengths of your chains are imprudent.They are that way because no one has ever tried to free a prisoner down here.No one has ever managed to break into this torture room."

"I'm going to die down here, aren't I?" Yuffie asked, her voice dull and robotic.She was thankful for that; at least they wouldn't be able to hear the fear that was stinging her throat.

"Die?" Titus echoed, folding his arms across his chest casually."That is possible, yes."

"Is Reeve dead?" Yuffie asked him quietly, the glittering green of his eyes suddenly reminding her of the living mists in her nightmares.

Titus looked at her sharply."What's this obsession with death?" he demanded."You talk as if death is the most horrible fate in the world."

"It is!" Yuffie suddenly exclaimed vehemently.

"How do you know?Have you ever been dead?"

"No!Of course not!"

"Then don't regard death as the fate to end all fates," Titus told her coldly."Down here, little girl, death is a MERCY.I've seen countless people BEG for us to kill them.You're about to learn that there are thousands of fates FAR worse than the abyss of cold death."

Some of Yuffie's fear shifted into anger."If you're going to torture me, just do it and get fucking over with!!!" she screeched at Titus, her attempt at kicking him once again brought to a clanking halt by her chains."I'm tired of standing here listening to you talk your crap and spout nonsense at me!!"

_/And I'm scared.I want to see my friends again./_

Titus gave her a cold smile."Fortunate for you AND me, I'm not the one during the torturing.It's not something I'm required to do given my current rank in this faction.The one who—"

A door clanged somewhere far off and above them, the sound echoing in the torture chamber, small as the room was. Forgetting all her anger, Yuffie's eyes widened with fear as she craned her neck back as far as it would go, her gaze flicking from left to right, left to right, all around the walkway, expecting an entire horde of monsters to pop out.

"What was that?" she whispered feverishly, more to herself than Titus or Fa-Li.She could see no one on the walkway surrounding the top of the room.However, she COULD hear a sound; it was quiet and echoing, but it was a sound nonetheless, and it was one that she recognized immediately.Footsteps.Slow, deliberate, unhurried footsteps.Whoever was approaching had no fear of what awaited him or her at their destination.Whoever was approaching was in complete power.Yuffie's heart sank.She had a feeling she was about to meet Titus and Fa-Li's boss.

For some reason, the prospect failed to excite her.

Though Yuffie had been expecting the leader to emerge sometime soon, she was still startled when movement suddenly flickered out of the corner of her eye.A small gasp escaped her lips as she pivoted her head up and to the right, eyes widening as they fell on a figure standing on the walkway, towering over them all and throwing its ominous shadow over the lonely figure of Yuffie Kisaragi, helpless in chains, standing on the center of the torture platform.In the darkness of the chamber, her vision was severely limited, but there really wasn't much to be seen of the new figure.It was covered from head to toe in a brown robe, complete with a large hood that cast a deep, unbroken shadow over the figure's face.No other features were visible.Even its hands were swallowed by the wide, long sleeves. 

"Who are you?!" someone's voice, harsh with fear, demanded.It took Yuffie a second to realize that it was hers.Out of the corner of her fear-ridden eyes, she saw Fa-Li bowing deeply to the figure.Titus just stood there.

"I am the master of this faction," the Cold One said, and Yuffie flinched at its voice.Fathomless and infinitely colder than Vincent or Rude's could have ever hoped to be.

"What faction?" Yuffie heard herself ask."So far I've seen THREE whole people and one poor freak locked up in a cell.Some faction."

The Cold One's attention abruptly shifted to Titus."I see you make an excellent hunter, Titus," it said."You've brought this girl to us in record time.Hopefully, she will yield better results than the unfortunate President Reeve."

_/Reeve…/_

"Where's Reeve?" Yuffie demanded of the Cold One, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them.

Slowly, the figure's attention flickered back to her."An odd time you choose to worry about your friends," it said flatly.

"She's an odd girl, Master," Fa-Li quipped.

"And she's all yours now," Titus spoke up in an monotone, something in his voice making Yuffie tear her attention away from the Cold One."My job here is done."His eyes were hard as steel as he gazed up at the Cold One."I'll collect my pay and be gone."

Fa-Li looked stricken as she gazed at the Running Man."Titus…" she whispered, sounding hurt for some odd reason.

"You're leaving?" Yuffie asked, feeling betrayed somehow.All along, their plans had revolved around the Running Man, and now he was…running again.Figures.

"Your job isn't done," the Cold One said flatly."Information needs to be extracted from this girl."

Titus bristled."Do it yourself," he seethed, eyes flashing angrily."I am no longer under your control."

"I am the one paying you," the Cold One deadpanned.

A horrific sneer twisted Titus' handsome face."I figured you'd do something like this," he spat, hands clenching into fists."You can't stand the fact that I broke free of your control, and now you'll do anything and everything – use every dirty trick – to try and make me into one of your mindless servants once again."

"Your departure was an extreme blow to the faction," the Cold One said in that horrible, hollow voice."Rebels began to form within our ranks, trying to follow your example.You were well-liked as the High Priest."

_/High Priest?/_ Yuffie thought in confusion, her gaze darting back and forth from Titus to the Cold One./_But if Titus was the High Priest, then why did he quit and become a bounty hunter?Gawd.Too mind-boggling.I can't think under these conditions!/_

"My affiliation with this organization has long since passed," Titus said firmly."I don't intend to return ever again, either."

A long silence fell in which Yuffie was scared even to breath.She felt the tension in the air like a heart's resolve stretched taut, ready to give way at any moment.She saw Fa-Li's eyes darting nervously around the room, flicking from Titus to the shadow-wrapped figure of the Cold One above their heads, hovering like a demon in waiting.

Finally, that empty, never-ending voice drifted once again from the unbroken darkness of the Cold One's hood."Cry for liberation all you want, Titus, but you'll never be truly free.You know this as well as I."

The look on Titus' face darkened considerably, and Yuffie shuddered as she felt a strange power vibrating through the torture room, lancing through the air and stinging her heart like the prick of a thousand needles.A cold feeling washed over her soul, and it was suddenly as if the room was filled with mist that hadn't been there a second before.She saw THINGS shifting in the green-stained air, and for a second, she heard a screaming cacophony of voices crying for release.

Then she blinked, and everything was gone, leaving her soul cold and trembling inside her.

Titus was speaking.

"…don't care whether you pay me or not anymore.My greatest mistake was coming back here to serve you, even if it was for a brief time!Kidnap AVALANCHE members is what you told me to do," he pointed to Yuffie, the violet "materia" embedded on the back of his hand flashing oddly in the dim light, "and THAT is what I have done!What you do with her or her friend is now your business!"

_/"…her friend",/_ Yuffie thought./_So Reeve must be alive!/_The thought alone was enough to lift her spirits a bit.

"On the contrary, my eternal friend," the Cold One deadpanned, still addressing Titus."It is not _I_ who is going to do anything with her."

Titus' eyes narrowed."What do you mean?" he demanded.

"The Hissers will be the ones extracting the information from this girl."

Fa-Li gasped, eyes widening."B-But Master, the Hissers – they're not always…accurate.They often damage…other things…in their 'extraction' process."

Yuffie's heart plummeted to the bottoms of her feet, and to her humiliation, she felt her knees ready to give out from underneath her.

"Um," she suddenly spoke up nervously."I think I want Titus to torture me!These Hissers don't sound too…nice."

"But are you so sure you want Titus to torture you?" the Cold One asked her."He wasn't my chief servant for no reason.He is very good at what he does."

"Chief servant?But I thought he was your '_eternal_ _friend_'?" Yuffie had the audacity to mock."You guys don't seem like friends to me…"

Fa-Li suddenly rushed up and punched Yuffie on the kneecap with her tiny fist, a blow that, surprisingly enough, made Yuffie's leg buckle."Shut up!" the Wutainese woman hissed at the girl, brown eyes fierce."You talk too much!"

"Step down, Fa-Li," the Cold One suddenly snapped."We WANT her to talk."

Panic suddenly seized Yuffie as she recognized the hidden meaning in those words."But I don't have anything to say!" she yelled up at the Cold One, jerking on her chains fruitlessly."I'm just a stupid little airheaded ninja!I don't know anything, I swear it! You kidnapped the wrong person, I tell you!"

_/I want to get outta here!Leviathan forgive me, but I'm freaking SCARED!!/_

"I think this girl will yield very good results," the Cold One suddenly declared. 

"No she won't!No she won't!" Yuffie chanted, unnerved by the fact that he was speaking of her as if she wasn't even THERE – as if she wasn't a living, breathing, sentient creature that could cry or feel pain.To the Cold One, she was nothing but a well of useless knowledge to be sucked dry, leaving nothing but a hollow, broken shell in its place.See ya later, Yuffie!Nice knowing you!

_/But I don't KNOW anything,/_ Yuffie thought furiously./_Nothing at all.Nothing that these people down here would be interested in…/_

_/I should have seen it,/_ a voice suddenly said, ringing clear and true in her mind, pounding between her ears silently.It was raspy and distinctly male, or at least she thought it was.

Despite her surprise, she responded to it the only way she knew how."What?!" she demanded, gray eyes darting fearfully around the room, searching for the owner of the voice.

_/How could I have been so blind?/_ the voice lamented bitterly.

Nothing.Everyone in the room was staring at her as if she had lost her mind.Or at least, Fa-Li was.She could see nothing of the Cold One's face, though it seemed that his attention was utterly riveted on her, the intensity of his hidden gaze burning her.Titus was staring at her deeply, and quite suddenly she realized…

_/Don't tell them anything!/_ Titus' soundless voice urged./_You mustn't say anything to them!/_

Yuffie was baffled.Completely baffled.

His green eyes burned with hidden meaning./_You are the One Who Knows,/_ his voice rushed on./_If you love_ _your Planet, don't say a word!/_

"But I—" Yuffie suddenly started to blurt, the words forcing themselves past her lips before she could stop them.

"Titus!" the Cold One suddenly said sharply, the first inflection in its hollow voice she had heard yet."If your business is done here, please leave the room."

It took Yuffie a moment to realize that no one, not the even the Cold One, had heard Titus' words to her.But they knew that he had been saying SOMETHING to her, and the scent of emotions in the air was mixture of confusion and jealousy from Fa-Li and fury and animosity from the Cold One – a horrible mingling of rhythm emotion that assaulted her senses like the smell of decay in the air.Titus was acting like nothing had happened, of course, and Yuffie was just standing there with her mouth hanging open.

In response to the Cold One's less-than-cordial order, Titus simply nodded his head slightly and sent the figure on the walkway a dark glare before whirling and leaving the room, the heavy iron door banging shut behind him.

"Where's he going?!" Yuffie shrieked, senselessly wanting her kidnapper to come back now that he was gone."He's supposed to torture me!I don't want the Hissers to torture me!Hey…are you two listening to me?!Yeah, me!Over here!The girl with the chains!"

Fa-Li ignored Yuffie completely and focused her earnest gaze on the Cold One."He didn't mean it, Master, really.He's not usually that rude with people, especially someone of great esteem such as yourself.I don't know what's wrong with him.I have an idea!I'll go speak with him!"

"You do that," the Cold One said dispassionately as the woman bowed her head deeply and hurried out of the room, her heels clacking on the floor.

Silence descended after Fa-Li's abrupt departure.Yuffie wanted her to come back.The room seemed colder without Fa-Li and Titus in it.She knew that it was irrational that she was even enjoying the presences of the two people who had kidnapped her, but ANYONE was more preferable than the figure on the walkway.She could feel the Cold One's apathetic gaze on her, looking at her as if she wasn't a creature worthy of even the smallest shred of pity or sympathy.Her life was nothing to him.

To Yuffie's dismay, she felt her limbs trembling.Her knees felt weak and watery, and her shackles jangled with dark mirth whenever her arms or legs would twitch of their own violation.She felt as if she couldn't breath.

A blinding light suddenly snapped on right above her head, and it was as if Yuffie's world vanished into that abysmal whiteness.She was blinded, and the light beating down on her shoulders, weaving its way through her hair, was almost painful in its intensity.She vaguely heard herself yelling at the Cold One, demanding to know what was going on, but she wasn't really listening to her own words.

She was instead listening to a low hissing that was coming from all around her, rising and falling like the waves of the ocean.Now she knew why they were called "Hissers."

And she was finally able to identify that foul taste in the back of her throat that had been plaguing her ever since she had come down to this forgotten kingdom of unspeakable monstrosities.

It was the taste of fear.

* * * * * * *

"Cloud?Shouldn't you check on Vincent?"

"Hm?"Cloud looked down at Red questioningly before returning his attention back to his task of draining the last of the coffee from the coffee pot.Elena and the others were playing poker at the table with Rude, who had just come downstairs recently and was – to be quite blunt – kicking everyone's asses.No one could beat the Turk's poker face.

"Vincent," Red repeated."I think you should go check on him.He didn't seem well last night, and he hasn't come down at all this morning."

Cloud stared into his empty cup thoughtfully, Mako eyes misted."I don't know," he said calmly."You know Vincent is a hell of a lot tougher than he looks, and he values his privacy above all things.He might not respect us barging in."

Not at all fazed with the difficulty Cloud was giving him, Red stole a glace at where the others were busy making fun of Elena for calling a "royal flush" a "royal blush".

"You lose!You said 'blush' instead of 'flush'!!"

"That's SO unfair, Cid!!It was a slip of the tongue!"

"Sure it was, Turk."

"Shut up, Barret!Why do they call it 'flush' anyways?!!You flush TOILETS, not cards!"

Red turned away from the arguing group and back to Cloud."There's another reason I would like you to check on Vincent," he said quietly.

Cloud lifted an eyebrow, a silent signal for Red to continue.

"Last night at Vincent's door, I picked up a scent that wasn't Vincent's or any of ours."

Suspicion caused Cloud's Mako blue eyes to narrow."You mean there was someone other than us in the bar?"

"Not 'someone'," Red corrected."Some_thing_.It was the change of scent that Vincent undergoes whenever he shifts to his Chaos form."

"You lost me, Red," Cloud admitted, a bit of frustration evident in his tone."You mean Chaos was in the room at the same time Vincent was?"

Red hesitated, doubting his own recollection."I'm not quite sure.You see, when Vincent shifts into Chaos, his entire scent changes along with his body.He looses the scent he has as a human and instead takes on the scent of the demon.What I scented last night was the beginnings of the transformation.In other words, the coming of Chaos' scent, but the abnormal thing was that Vincent's scent wasn't loosing any power."

Dark emotions flickered in Cloud's eyes."You mean it was as if Chaos was developing as a separate being from Vincent?"

Red shrugged, looking as helpless as he could look."Not precisely.My conclusion would be that Vincent was losing control of Chaos.Your theory is a lot scarier, actually.I'd hate to think of that Chaos creature loose and running around of its own accord."

"But is it any safer for Vincent to have it inside himself?" Cloud pondered darkly, his eyes half-lidded in contemplation.He was worried about Vincent, truly he was, but after the gunslinger had exploded at Barret last night, Cloud was extremely reluctant to approach his friend.Yuffie's kidnapping and Vincent's unwitting, indirect contribution to the unfortunate occurrence seemed to have sent the ex-Turk slightly off-balance.Instability in a man like Vincent – with such raw energy inside of him – was a dangerous thing indeed.Cloud knew that Vincent kept many secrets to himself.The swordsman was still convinced that Vincent hadn't told him the whole truth about what had happened at the deep-sea complex, and Cloud was starting to wonder if Chaos was somehow a part of that "truth."He wouldn't be surprised, but, still, it was terrifying to think that Vincent might be losing control of the demon.Chaos had never failed to incite a deep fear in Cloud even though he KNEW that Vincent was inside that monstrous form somewhere.It was somewhat difficult for Cloud to fight alongside the hovering form of Chaos in battle.His first instinct was always to attack the demon before it could kill him or one of his teammates, and it was only with a great force of will that he repressed such an urge.

Cloud sighed, forcing himself to act rather than think.Red was still waiting patiently for his decision.Cid and the others were once again engaged in another noisy argument.They probably wouldn't notice if Meteor came through the ceiling and crash-landed next to them.

"Alright," Cloud told Red."Let's go check on Vincent."

* * * * * * *

Dark lashes fluttered slightly, warily, their owner clearly expecting pain to follow any movement he made.But when he felt not a thing, the eyelashes stopped their cautious flickering and instead opened slowly, revealing crimson irises and too-large pupils that adjusted to their sudden exposure with abnormal quickness.

From his place where he was sprawled gracelessly on the floor, Vincent forced himself to twitch each of his limbs as his eyes flicked instinctively around the room, an old habit from his Turk days that he had yet to break.It was better to evaluate one's surrounding while the eyes were still closed in some semblance of sleep (the better to fool the enemies), but Vincent had been floating in darkness for far too long.He desired substantial objects that he knew he could touch if he wished to, even if these long-sought-after objects were the forms of his perfectly-made bed, the shards of glass lying dangerously close to his face, and the discarded form of the lamp strewn haphazardly on the floor amongst the broken glass, its cord curled around it protectively.

Once he was assured that all of his limbs were still attached to his body, Vincent shifted experimentally.The only pain he was experiencing was in his right arm, since had obviously been sleeping with it pinned underneath him, cutting off the flow of blood to the limb.Grunting slightly, he rolled onto his back and let his arm flop onto the floor next to him, feeling a flush of coolness over his skin as the blood began to rush back into his veins.

Staring up at the ceiling and listening to the rain that was still beating on the window, Vincent was, for a moment, baffled as to what he was doing on the floor.Then he remembered the sudden illness that had stricken him the night before.The pulsing fever.The body-wracking chills.The soundless voice of Chaos rumbling across his soul.The vision of Yuffie in shackles.

"Yuffie…" he whispered, closing his eyes as the name dropped from his lips."I know where to find you…"

He suddenly heard the quiet thumping of someone coming up the stairs.His eyes narrowed immediately, his muscles going rigid until he realized it was probably just one of the others coming back up to his or her room.Sounded like it was just one of them, but he heard the faint clacking of claws – a sound almost hidden by the footsteps of the other individual – and realized that whoever was coming up the stairs had Red XIII with them.

However, the footsteps stopped right outside his door, and it suddenly occurred to Vincent that they must have been coming to check up on him.He frowned, thinking he wasn't deserving of such kindness.

"Vincent?" Cloud voice called, pitched at the level everyone used when they want to wake someone up, but didn't wish to SOUND like they want to."Are you in there, Vincent?"

Vincent rolled away from the door so that it wouldn't slam into him when they opened it.

Rubbing his eyes wearily, he called, "It's not locked."

The door creaked open, and the next thing Vincent knew, one golden eye and two deep blue eyes were peering down at him worriedly.The gunslinger blinked up at them in surprise.

"Hey, Vincent, are ya dead, man?" Cloud asked needlessly, putting his hands on his knees and leaning down so he could get a better look at Vincent's emotionless face.

"No, unfortunately," Vincent replied dryly.

Cloud lifted an eyebrow and studied Vincent, taking in the tangled-beyond-any-hope-in-the-world ebony hair spilled beneath him, the paler-than-usual face, the bloodshot garnet eyes, and the wrinkled clothes that were too big for Vincent's figure.

"You look like crap," Cloud blurted, then he winced."Sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Vincent asked seriously.

"What happened HERE?" Red suddenly demanded, sounding shocked.Vincent glanced past Cloud's boots to see that Red had discovered the results of his little…close encounter…with the mirror last night.

"Holy crap," Cloud breathed as he turned around, wondering how he could have missed thousands of glittering shards of broken glass lying on the floor not a foot away from him.A lamp lay amongst the carnage at the bottom of a now-glassless mirror frame, staring meekly up at Cloud, as if to say, "Hey, it wasn't me!That guy lying on the floor over there made me do it!"

"Vincent," Cloud said."I don't care who you are, Tifa is going to STRANGLE you when she sees this."

Rubbing his temple with his human hand, Vincent sat up slowly."I'll be happy to pay for the damage."

Cloud glanced down at the man sitting on the hardwood floor."You and what money?"

A flash of annoyance crossed Vincent's features, but he quickly contained it."I have money," he said simply.

"It doesn't matter," Cloud said dejectedly, plopping down on the end of Vincent's bed, boots crunching wayward pieces of glass."We're going to have to leave Kalm soon anyways."

"Flooded?" Vincent asked shortly.

Cloud nodded, casting a dark glare at the intrusive rain pounding noisily on the window."Chances are the water will be leaking in through the bar door by tomorrow morning, maybe by this evening if it starts raining really hard."

"And we'll lose our headquarters," Red added.

"Where is everyone?" Vincent asked suddenly, noticing that neither Cloud nor Red had any armor on them.

"Cid, Elena, Barret and Rude are downstairs playing poker," Cloud answered."Cait Sith is restoring his power reserves in the garage.Tifa is probably on the beach healing Reno's soul.And Red and I are up here talking to you."

"And Yuffie and Reeve are in the hands of torturers while everyone is just sitting around," Vincent said, voice frozen with cold anger.

Whether it was the tone of Vincent's voice or his choice of words that made Cloud's eyes narrow, Vincent had no idea, but narrow they did, the Mako glow becoming almost as intense as his own crimson orbs.

"What with that attitude all of a sudden?" Cloud demanded."And what do you mean 'torturers'?"

"We need to find Yuffie quickly," was all Vincent said.

_/Damn,/_ Cloud thought grumpily./_I forgot about this guy's one-track mind./_

"What about Reeve?" Red asked shrewdly.

"Sorry," Vincent said."I don't know anything about Reeve, but I know where Yuffie is being held…to a certain extent."

Cloud folded his arms across his lean chest and looked down at Vincent carefully."And how did you find out?Did Chaos tell you?"

Crimson eyes suddenly fastened on him from behind a curtain of damp black locks that had fallen across Vincent's eyes.It was most unnerving, having blood-red eyes glaring up at him from behind pillars of midnight black-blue, but Cloud didn't waver.His own Mako blue gaze was steady.

Vincent suddenly rocked backwards onto his back, putting his palms flat down on the floor beside his head and drawing his knees up to his chest.Then, in one rapid, fluid motion, he snapped his entire body upright, landing on his feet with unnatural speed.

_/Chinese get-up,/_ Cloud thought./_I forgot how agile he was, too.If it were anyone else, I would say they were showing off, but this is VINCENT./_

"It doesn't matter where I obtained this information," Vincent said flatly, straightening his clothes."All that matters is that I have a general idea about how to get to her."

"Vincent," Cloud said, worry and a bit of fear sharpening his tone."I NEED to know.Are you losing control of Chaos?"

There was a brief hesitation, then a sigh slipped past Vincent's lips.Shifting his gaze back to Cloud, he said seriously, "I wish I could tell you, Cloud, but I honestly don't know."He looked away."However, I can tell you that I don't believe Chaos poses a danger to anyone…yet."

Cloud wasn't at all pleased with that "yet", but he let it slide, knowing that Vincent was only telling him the truth.

"So Vincent," Red asked, flaming tail swooshing gently behind him."Where exactly is Yuffie?"

Vincent turned his gaze to the rain-battered window, eyes misted with recollection."Somewhere…underground," he said, sounding a little uncertain."Stone tunnels.Doors like one might find on a submarine.Lots of hallways.A torture chamber.I know the way to the chamber, but that's about it."

Cloud paused only briefly before throwing his hunch up in the air."Midgar sewers sound good to you?" he asked Vincent.

"Excellent," Vincent deadpanned, striding over to the desk, and Cloud was vaguely surprised to see him pick up one of his red bandanas and wrap it around his forehead, knotting it in back of his head, the crimson of the bandana showing up well against the ebony hair.He had forgotten that Vincent had more than one of those things.The other, Cloud knew, Yuffie still had tied around her arm like some sort of lover's gift.

"Vincent," Cloud suddenly said, something in his voice making the older man turn around."Even if we didn't move out today, you'd go to Midgar by yourself, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, I would," Vincent answered without hesitation.

_/To find Yuffie,/_ Cloud added silently.A strange thought suddenly occurred to him, but he pushed it away, unable to believe such a thing.

Cloud rose to his feet quickly, his boots crunching over glass shards as he strode to Vincent's door."I'll go rally everyone," he said over his shoulder."Looks like we're moving out today, after all."

"No rest for the wicked," Red muttered darkly.

Vincent didn't reply, but he agreed whole-heartedly.

* * * * * * *

There were days when Fa-Li cursed everything and everyone that crossed her path, and this was definitely one of those days.Her brown eyes were full of thunder as she stomped down the stone hallways that she had seen every day for years and years.She hated them.Hated them with a passion.So boring.So featureless.So JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER FREAKING STONE HALLWAY IN THEIR LITTLE "SUBTERRANEAN WORLD"!!!But she knew these hallways like the back of her hand.Some of the priests and priestesses got lost in such a labyrinth, but Fa-Li never did.

But much to her dismay, after a year, she found that she didn't know Titus quite as well as she once thought she did.He wasn't as predictable.Not NEARLY as predictable.She had already checked all of the places he used to retreat to when he wanted to sulk or be alone, but her searches had yielded no results at all.However, Fa-Li was a stubborn individual, and she wasn't ready to admit that Titus would just LEAVE without saying SOMETHING to her.It may have been on account of a bloated ego on her part, but what she was really hoping for was that Titus hadn't changed so drastically that he was a completely different person than he was a year ago.

_/Only one place left to check,/_ she thought furiously, cursing her heeled boots and the stone floor that was so unyielding beneath her feet./_And that place just so happens to be one I hate the most./_

Rounding a sharp corner, Fa-Li nearly collided with someone coming in the opposite direction.

Harsh words on her lips, the woman started to spit out a heated curse, but froze when she saw whom she had almost plowed into.

Deep brown eyes cold and empty, like Death.A lean, beautiful body that put Fa-Li's to utter shame.Flowing, wavy brown hair shot through with natural blond highlights that burned brightly in the sea of chocolate brown.

As Fa-Li stared, the woman leaned forward and sniffed the air between them.

"I smell a skank," she stated nastily, her slums' accent making her words harsher than they already were."Get the hell outta my way before I have to go THROUGH you."

Fa-Li stepped aside hurriedly, a stunned expression on her face as the other woman brushed past her without a second glance.

_/Gods…it's HER,/_ Fa-Li thought./_I have to tell Ti—/_

But just as she was whirling around to resume her walk, she collided with someone else.

"Whoa there, Missie," a light, male voice chided as a large hand settled on her shoulder, steadying her.

Fa-Li's heart jumped at the voice, and turned around to find herself staring up at a man with spiky brown hair that stuck up in all different directions.He would have look absolutely ridiculous if it hadn't been for the long scar on his left cheek, which crinkled as he smiled down at her, an expression that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Watch where you step," the tall man warned amiably."You might end up stepping on things far more vicious than me."He winked, well aware of the irony in his own words.

Then he, too, brushed past her, walking at a normal, unhurried pace, hands shoved deep in the pockets of his pristine cotton pants, his bare feet making no sound at all on the stone floors.His open white coat gently floated behind his figure like a ghost.

Fa-Li watched him until he disappeared down the hall.

_/Montana,/_ she thought grimly, still feeling weight of the man's assassin-heavy hand on her shoulder./_And the woman was Jezebel.The Master's personal bounty hunters.I have to tell Titus! /_

This time Fa-Li made SURE there was no one standing behind her before she took off at a dead run, ignoring her aching feet.Stone hallway after redundant stone hallway flew past her until she found what she was looking for.It was literally a hole in wall, so narrow that even a person who was just considered "hefty" wouldn't be able to fit through it.And certainly no claustrophobic people would make it through.Fa-Li herself wasn't found of close, tight spaces, but her encounter with Jezebel and Montana had made her even keener on finding Titus and warning him.

If he wasn't here…then he was already gone.Left her behind…again.

Sucking in her gut as far as it would go and cursing her mother for passing down her large breasts to her daughter, Fa-Li turned sideways and slipped into the narrow passageway, moving along its length as quickly as her heels and the stone scraping her back would allow.The trip wasn't that long, but by the time Fa-Li made it out of the passageway and into open air, she felt as it she had been trapped in the passageway for years.

Brushing bits of loose rock off of her leather bodysuit, Fa-Li glanced furiously around the cave, wincing at the smell of death in the air.She could never understand why Titus liked coming here.The cave's "owner" really wasn't an amicable creature…

Fa-Li was just starting to think that maybe Titus really was gone for good when she suddenly caught sight of him crouched on the ground, his back to her.He was quite a distance a way, and the knowledge that she was going to have to WALK that distance after RUNNING the entire way down here didn't make Fa-Li a very happy camper.In fact, it pissed her off.

Sending out a silent prayer that the cave's owner wasn't around, Fa-Li began to stomp over to where Titus was crouched, not bothering to call his name.No, what she planned to do was give him a good, stiff kick for making her come all this way to—

She was ten feet away from Titus when she froze dead in her tracks.

As it turned out, the cave's owner WAS around.

The massive anaconda was resting on the ground in front of Titus, over half of its massively long body lost in the darkness of the cave.Now that her anger wasn't drowning out all her other senses, Fa-Li could hear the silent hissing of its scales as the snake shifted and flexed.

"She's hurt," Titus' voice suddenly split the air of the cave, and it took Fa-Li a couple of seconds to realize that he was talking to her.

"S-She is?" the woman echoed dumbly.

Titus didn't seem to mind, though.Rising to his feet, he turned around to face Fa-Li, and the giant snake also swiveled its massive had to pin the woman with its reptilian stare.Fa-Li gulped.She forgotten just how BIG the snake was.One of its slitted eyes was as big as a basketball, and its head alone was almost as long as Titus was tall.It hissed its displeasure at finding her in its lair, a dark substance spewing from its mouth as it did so.Titus patted the creature reassuringly on the snout, and the snake ceased its annoyed hissing, but Fa-Li knew that it wasn't very happy with having someone other than Titus in its home.

Titus glanced sadly at the dark substance dripping out of the snake's mouth. "Someone cut off her tongue," he said quietly.

Fa-Li blinked."Oh," was the only thing she could think to say, especially with the snake glaring at her in that oddly human fashion.

Titus turned and patted the anaconda's snout again, and the beast immediately reverted its attention back to him.

"You should go see Dominic," Titus said to the snake, talking to it as he would a human."He can at least cauterize the wound so you won't bleed to death.Next time, don't bite off more than you can chew, ne?"

The giant snake almost seemed to rumble its displeasure at Titus' joke, but it nudged him affectionately with its nose and took the time to give Fa-Li one last contemptuous glare before slowly slithering away into the darkness.Fa-Li could hear the sliding of its scales over the rocks long after it was gone, though.

Fa-Li suddenly let out a breath she didn't even know she had been holding."Gods!" she breathed."I forgot how BIG that thing was!"

"'She'," Titus corrected, but there was no fire in his voice."That snake is a female."

_/He sounds like he missed the damn snake more than he missed me,/_ Fa-Li thought grumpily.

"Titus…" she started, still not brave enough to just walk over to him.She was afraid the snake would suddenly come back and bite off her head or something.

"Quiet," he said, but once again, there was no argumentative tone in his deep voice."I already know what you're going to say."

Fa-Li wiped the sweat off her forehead in annoyance; the cave was uncomfortably hot."Then?!" she exclaimed."Why did you speak to the Master in such a flippant tone?!Titus, you know how the Master gets when he's angry!"

"Of course I do," Titus said, not bothering to turn around."But, quite frankly, I don't care.I'm too _valuable_ for him to dispose of."The words weren't spoken in pride, only in contempt and self-hatred.Titus had always hated himself more than anyone else.

"Titus!" Fa-Li insisted, covering the distance separating them in three strides."The Master has sent for Jezebel and Montana!"

"I know," Titus said flatly, green eyes faintly luminescent in the darkness."I don't care."

Frustration and anger consuming her senses, Fa-Li maneuvered so that she was standing right in front of him."Don't you care about anything?!" she demanded of him, her voice echoing in the cave.

"I hope Kisaragi won't break," Titus suddenly commented, looking worried.

Hurt stung the back of Fa-Li's throat."So all you care about is that stupid girl?!Don't you even think…don't you…even…notice…or consider…you're still so goddamn naïve!That part of you hasn't changed one bit!"

Titus just stared at her, and those cold green eyes suddenly looked wide and innocent in the darkness as he blinked, a little more rapidly than usual.

_/His eyes.I love his eyes./_

Fa-Li let her head drop down against Titus' chest, the leather blessedly cool against her flushed cheek.He didn't stiffen or jerk away, but he didn't wrap his arms around her in a comforting embrace, either.But she heard the beating of his heart underneath his jacket, and the sound was unbelievably soothing to her.It was then that she finally realized how much she had missed him.

"Was she happy to see you?" she heard herself asking, her voice gone quiet.Her hands were limp at her sides; she only contact she would permit was her face against his chest.

"Hn?" Titus grunted.

"The snake," Fa-Li clarified."Was she happy to see you?"

"She wasn't happy in the sense that you mean.She hasn't emotions like you do.But my return pleased her so I guess…she was happy to see me."He paused."She told me many things."

"Like what?" Fa-Li asked.

This time Titus' silence was long and drawn out, but eventually he whispered into the still air of the cave, "A storm.A storm unlike any other.It's coming, and its rains and tides of fury may drown us all…"

* * * * * * *

_Author's Note: Whew…I wrote most of this chapter in one day: today!O_O I'm so sleeeeeepy!I didn't mean for it to be this long, and I didn't want to end with the Titus and Fa-Li part, but I felt it needed to be in there for some reason. Anyhow, please send me your comments!^_^_

_~Catalina_

_ _

_Next Chapter_

_Sink to the Bottom With You Ch. 25_

_AVALANCHE on the Rise_


	25. AVALANCHE on the Rise

AVALANCHE on the Rise

**_AVALANCHE on the Rise_**

_"Go splash in some puddles outside."Red XIII_

_ _

_I look at her in that paper dress_

_I wonder why she won't burn_

_She's just a paper doll that's all_

_Just a paper doll_

_ _

_"Paper Doll"_

_Kittie_

_ _

"Holy SHIT!" Cid cursed angrily, manhole cover nearly falling from his rain-slick hands."Spike, get your ass over here!"

Cloud maneuvered his way over to the pilot, tossing his wet bangs out of his eyes as he did so."What is it?" he asked.

Cid scowled.He hadn't had a cigarette in the last five minutes, and already the nicotine withdrawal was making him cranky."The hell you mean 'what is it'?!Take a look down the hole, kid!Ain't nothing but water down there now!"

"What?!" Elena practically screeched, pushing past Cid and nearly knocking Cloud down the manhole simultaneously."No way!It wasn't like this yesterday, I swear it!If Reno and Red were here, they could tell you the same thing!"

"The water must have risen," Cloud stated grimly.

Cid tossed the manhole cover to the side angrily, not noticing when it rolled and made a small dent in the side of a car abandoned in the street."No shit, Sherlock!" he yelled at Cloud."Anyone who ain't blind can see that!What the @#$% are we gonna do now, smart guy?"

Cloud didn't reply, just glared down the manhole at the veritable RIVER that was now flowing along its merry way.The cement portion that Elena, Reno, and Red had been traveling on yesterday was nowhere to be seen – covered completely by rushing water.DIRTY FILTHY rushing water.Cloud resisted the urge to scream.The sewers were the only way to Yuffie, according to his opinion and Vincent's as well.So far this was the only entrance they could find to the sewer tunnels that wasn't flooded.Another option would be to trek all over Midgar in search of another way to access the sewer system that wouldn't lead them into torrents of rank sewer water.Of course, they could always head all the way back to the old Shinra building and take a dive down the "snake tunnel", as they had come to call it, but that would just be more precious minutes wasted.

Everyone was cold, tired, and grumpy, including Cloud.Cid was throwing fits left and right because he couldn't smoke in the rain.Barret was actually behaving himself, not wanting to do anything that would piss off Vincent, who he believed was still peeved at him.Tifa was trying to be encouraging as usual, but Cloud could see in her eyes that she was extremely dubious of their plan.Cait Sith was asking questions from everyone, trying to catch up on everything he had missed.Elena was making it no secret that she was scared to go back into the sewers.And Rude and Vincent were, well…Rude and Vincent.Cold, aloof, and nearly imperturbable, as usual.

They were also short two fighters.

After a brief debate, it had been decided that Reno and Red would remain behind at the bar.

~*~*~*~*~

_"I'm not gonna be much help to you guys ANYWAYS," Reno said bitterly, wringing rainwater out of his ponytail."Chances are that effing snake is still in the sewers, right?I'm fucking scared of snakes, in case you guys didn't notice that fact yesterday.If it shows up again, I'm going to be more of a hurt than a help.I'd probably be better off…staying behind."_

_ _

_"But Reno!" Elena protested, absently tugging on the hem of her hastily thrown on suit."We need you with us!You're the leader of the Turks!"_

_ _

_Reno gave her a hard, angry glare and sat down in a stool, heedless of his waterlogged suit and pants."Damn straight I'm the leader.And as such, you should have faith in my decision.Go on without me.That's an order."_

_ _

_Elena looked like she wanted to argue some more, but she caught her lip between her teeth and held back her words.She knew the truth in what Reno was saying.He didn't even have his nightstick any longer.True, he was a fair shot with a gun, but the nightstick was still his weapon of choice; his skills with it were unmatched, and with it, he could fight close range as well as long range._

_ _

_"Elena, Rude," Reno said flatly when neither of them replied to his order."Am I understood?You're under Cloud's leadership now.Is that clear?"_

_ _

_"Yessir!" Rude said immediately, standing ramrod straight and raising four fingers to his forehead, locked firmly in a crisp salute._

_ _

_"Yessir!" Elena mimed, wondering how long it had been since she had saluted someone like this._

_ _

_Reno sighed, the hardness in his face melting away into a melancholy mask of tragedy."Good.Now put your damn hands down and slouch a little bit, for crying out loud."_

_ _

_"I'd probably be better off remaining here as well," Red said suddenly, voice calm._

_ _

_Cloud looked up in surprise from where he was inserting materia into the Ultima Weapon."Red?" he asked incredulously._

_ _

_"The sewers are probably flooded," Red said, striving to be logical in order to cover up his frustration at his own helplessness."The rising water will greatly hinder my mobility, being that I haven't the height advantage that you all possess.I'd have to be swimming everywhere.I would only slow you down."_

_ _

_Cloud's jaw clenched, but he only nodded mutely and went about snapping his Crystal Bangle onto his wrist._

~*~*~*~*~

"So?" Cait suddenly spoke up, unfazed the raindrops running down his fur and down the sides of his moogle."What are we gonna do, Cloud?"

Cloud scratched the back of his head, glaring down the manhole into the watery darkness."I don't know," he said helplessly."Does anyone have any other ideas?"

Suddenly, Vincent brushed past him, hesitated a split second at the edge of the manhole, and then jumped down it.

"Vincent!" Tifa gasped, shoving a dumbfounded Cid aside and falling to her knees on the pavement, peering down into the sewers.Cloud followed in suit after recovering his wits.

Cid crowded up next to him, yelling, "What the hell, Vince?!! You trying to kill yourself or something?!"

Crimson eyes stared up at them calmly, literally glowing in the darkness.Rain plummeted through the open manhole and struck Vincent's pale skin, but he didn't seem to notice.The water was barely up past his ankles.

"It's not that deep," he said calmly.

"Yes, yes, yes, we can SEE that!!" Cid exclaimed, raking his fingers through his blond hair and nearly knocking his goggles off of his head."Thank you for DEMONSTRATING that for us!!"He turned to Cloud. "Spike, don't let him DO shit like that no more!!!"

Cloud blinked rainwater from his eyes."It's not like I TOLD him to do it, Cid."

"Whatever," Cid grumbled."I need a smoke.So who's goin' down next?!"

"I'll go," Rude volunteered, clearly trying to avoid sprouting any more arguments.Cloud moved out of the way to allow the tall Turk to crouch next to the edge of the manhole, glancing down only briefly before swinging his legs over the edge and free falling to the bottom.He landed with a faint splash that was almost drowned out by the sounds of the pouring rain.

"Are you alright Rude?" Elena asked immediately, rushing up to the edge to make sure her friend had made it down in one piece.

"I'm fine, Elena," he asked calmly.

"I'm goin' down next!" Cid exclaimed, one leg already dangling over the edge of the manhole.

Trusting his team to make it down without any mishaps, Cloud turned to where Cait Sith was waiting patiently a little ways away from the others.

"Just how waterproof are you?" he asked worriedly.

Cait spread his gloved paws, looking as helpless as a robotic cat could look."I'm here in the rain, aren't I?"

Cloud nodded, still looking dubious as he cast a glance over at where Barret was trying to squeeze through the manhole."I know, but I'm sure that there are deeper parts of the water down there in the sewers.Can that moogle swim or anything?"

Cait beamed."It doesn't need to swim, O' Fearless Leader!It floats!If worse comes to worst, we can always use this guy for a raft of sorts!No worries here, Cloud!"He flashed the swordsman a thumbs-up sign, with a big goofy grin to compliment it.

Somehow, that didn't ease Cloud's worries. 

* * * * * * *

BEGIN.

yessssssir

"T-That hissing is r-r-really annoying, ya know???"

name

"W-What?"

name.give name.

"C'mon!You guys kidnapped someone and you don't even know their name?"

give name now.

"……Y-Yuffie…Yuffie Pristina Kisaragi…"

father name.

"My father?Um, Lord Godo Kisaragi…shouldn't you guys already know this?"

mother name.

"…my mother?Why do you want to know about my mother?"

mother name.

"Go to hell!I'm not telling you anything about my mother!"

kira ayami kotori.

"W-What???!!How…how did you know that?!"

about mother.tell.

"No!Not until you tell me how you knew my mother's name!"

The pain began without warning.Her limbs suddenly spasmed violently, chains jangling with harsh laughter.A scream fought to rip from her throat, but she bit it back with a sheer force of will.Then the pain was gone, leaving her gasping for breath, body trembling with the aftershocks the agony had left behind.

mother.tell.

"Gawd!What the hell do you want to know?!She's DEAD, for crying out loud!!"

know thisss already.tell more.

"There's nothing more to tell!"

there isss.

"What?!What is there left?!She died when I was five years old!!!"

death never the end.what elsssse?

"I told you before!There IS nothing!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, the pain began again, filling her limbs with searing agony like no other.It froze the scream that was struggling to emerge from her mouth, pinning it in her chest where it burned her heart.

ALRIGHT, STOP.

The pain ceased.

DON'T DRAIN HER TOO SOON.SHE'LL STILL NEED TO BE STRONG ENOUGH TO SURVIVE THE MIND PROBE IF SHE REFUSES TO TALK.

undersssstood.

* * * * * * *

Reno sighed deeply as he watched the raindrops chasing one another down the window, splitting and merging and barreling into other droplets in a frenzy.Stupid raindrops.He had seen enough goddamn water to last him a lifetime.His suit jacket was hanging over one of the bar's chairs to air dry, but the dress shirt and slacks he was wearing were still a little on the damp side.Normally, even a petty thing such as remaining clad in damp clothes would have put him in a grouchy mood, but it wasn't bothering him this time.Maybe because the bar was virtually empty, and being grouchy was only fun when he had someone to listen to him bitch about every little thing.

"I wonder how the others are doing," Reno commented out loud.

Red didn't even stir from where he was resting on top of the one of the tables (a big no-no).

"I hope the snake didn't eat 'em," Reno continued, tugging thoughtfully on his gloves as he wondered if he would get any reaction out of his companion.

Of course, he didn't.One of Red's pierced ears twitched, but that was it.

"I hate snakes," Reno said loudly, making it obvious that he was trying to get Red's attention.

A growl emerged from the lion-like creature's throat."And I hate people who are loud just for the sake of being loud," Red grumbled.

"Geez, you must hate half of your friends, then," Reno shot back, slumping in his uncomfortable chair and propping up his feet on a nearby table (another big no-no).

One golden eye flicked coolly in his direction."Reno, this conversation is utterly pointless," Red said flatly.

Reno scowled."This conversation is NOT pointless.No conversation is pointless.I'm trying to be NICE over here, and you're biting my head off.And I'm bored; there's nothing to do here, and you're no fun to fight with."

"Go splash in some puddles outside," Red suggested, actually sounding half-serious.

"Haha, very funny," Reno said sarcastically."You're such a wit.Besides, there are no puddles outside, just one big goddamn LAKE."He scowled at the rain running down the window."The others better get back before water starts flooding the bar."

"That's probably what you and I should be fighting to prevent," Red commented, lifting his head from his paws and gazing absently at the front door to the bar, as if expecting the entire thing to cave in and water to come rushing into the room.

Reno snorted, not at all thrilled with the idea of doing manual labor."What can we do?Stand on the porch and try and push the water away when it comes onto the decking?"

"No," Red replied calmly as he gracefully bounded off the table and onto the floor."But we could start lining the edge of the decking with things to prevent or at least slow down the water's progress."He glanced at Reno."Actually, you'll probably have to do most of the work since my hands are somewhat lacking in the dexterity area."

Reno's aquamarine eyes narrowed."No matter how bored I am, I'm not in the mood to work right now.Why don't you—"

Red suddenly stiffened, his muscles going rigid and his ears pivoting to point towards the door."Shhh!" he hissed at Reno."Did you hear something?"

Reno hadn't, but he immediately swung his feet off the table and stood up, hand flying to his hip before he realized that he had no weapons.His beloved nightstick was floating around in the sewers somewhere, and his gun was hidden upstairs in his bedroom.

"What is it?" he whispered to Red, tensing his muscles and wondering if his hand-to-hand combat skills were as rusty as he was imagining.

Red one good eye darted around the bar."I heard something, but it was gone after a second.Some sort of thumping noise."

Reno's eyes narrowed as he stepped further away from his window, remembered from Turk training that windows were the most common entry place for surprise attacks."This bar is on stilts, right?"

Red nodded."Yes."

"Well, there's all kinds of debris floating around in the water, right?" Reno continued, feeling rather proud of his logic."Maybe something just hit one of the stilts and bounced off?"

Red relaxed a little, but Reno could tell that the AVALANCHE member wasn't fully convinced."That's seems to be the most logical assumption.But we have to keep in mind that, as far as we know, this bar is one of the only buildings that isn't underwater in Kalm.Other citizens might be coming here to seek shelter, and if they believe this place is abandoned, they might just break in like your common thief."

Reno snorted and plopped back down in his chair."I'd like to seem them try.I'll toss 'em back out into the rain.Or on second thought, I'd probably let them in.At least another person might prevent me from DYING of boredom in here."

Red rolled his eye."If you're so bored, Reno, why don't you watch TV or something?"

Reno immediately snapped to attention."TV?Where's the TV?I didn't even know there WAS a TV in this bar!"

"It's in the living room," Red replied calmly.

"There's a living room in his place?!" Reno echoed incredulously.

"Reno, for a Turk, you aren't very well aware of your surroundings," Red scolded."Look behind the bar area.What do you see?"

Reno bristled slightly at his companion's tone, but he looked anyways."I see a refrigerator. And a stove.And a sink.And some shot glasses.And some cupboards.And a pantry."

"That's not a pantry," Red interrupted.

For a moment, Reno just blinked at him dumbly before his face lit up with realization."A hidden door!" he exclaimed, leaping up from his seat."That sneaky bastard Cloud HID the damn living room back there!C'mon, Red, let's you and me raid the kitchen and watch TV!It'll be great!"

Red looked dubious.//Well…it's not like I have anything better to do.It's not like I'm going to get any rest with Reno running around the house.Wonder why he insists on me coming with him?He must be lonely…//

"C'mon, mutt!" Reno urged, marching determinedly back behind the bar.

"Joy," Red grumbled, following the Turk against his better judgment.He had the feeling he was in for a very long day.

* * * * *

//This is going to be a long day// Cloud thought grumpily as he tried very hard not to concentrate on the nasty water all around him.Sure, the water may have been ankle-deep to start off with, but once they had taken off into the darkness of the Midgar sewer system, the water had very quickly increased it depth and was now clawing at Cloud's waist, great hindering his maneuvering capabilities.Not everyone had the enormous height advantage that SOME PEOPLE were fortunate enough to possess.And "some people" did not include Cloud Strife.

After much bickering and stumbling over each other in the near-darkness (they were all out of flashlights), the present members of AVALANCHE and the Turks had fallen into a sort of formation.Cloud was leading the pack with Vincent since the gunslinger was the only one who seemed to have the faintest idea as to where he was going, and Cloud needed to be close to action in case it came time to make a split-second decision.Close behind them was a trio of Rude, Elena, and Tifa, all three of them barreling forward determinedly.Elena, surprisingly enough, kept most of "gross, that's nasty!" comments to herself.Maybe it was due to the fact that she had already been in the sewers yesterday, but Cloud had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with a tall, bald-headed Turk that was walking next to her without complaint.And finally, in the WAY back was the noisy, constantly bickering trio of Cid, Barret, and Cait.They insisted they were "covering everyone's asses" but what it sounded like they were doing was more along the lines of fighting over Cait's much-prized moogle.Cait hadn't been lying when he had told Cloud that the thing could float, and the robotic cat was having an easier time navigating the murky waters than his human companions.

Resisting the urge to sigh, Cloud cast a furtive glance at the shadowy form of Vincent walking next to him.The man's crimson eyes shone bright as fire in the darkness, narrowed with determination.Cloud didn't think he had ever seen Vincent looking so intent before.It was odd having the man beside him, taking the lead.Usually, when AVALANCHE moved in a large group like this, Vincent was always playing drogue in the back, constantly on the lookout for dangers that might have eluded the others.

//All this determination to find Yuffie?// Cloud thought to himself as he sidestepped some of the trash that was floating on the surface of the water. //It's strange.Vincent seems so much younger now.Maybe it's because he doesn't have that cape covering half of his face?You know, if this was anyone else looking so intent on finding a girl, I would think…but I can't think THAT.This isn't just anyone.This is VINCENT VALENTINE.He Who Feels Nothing And Cares For Nothing.//

"How much longer do you think we have?" Cloud asked Vincent, voice pitched at a level that only Vincent's abnormally sharp ears would be able to pick up.

"Longer for what?" Vincent replied distractedly, eyes methodically roving the darkness.

"Longer until we go wherever you're leading us," Cloud said, looking at the taller man carefully.

"I wish I could tell you, Cloud," Vincent answered."But I honestly don't know.I'll know when we get there, though."

Cloud's eyes lingered on Vincent's shadowy profile for a second longer before turning his gaze forwards again."You know, Vincent," he said offhandedly."I can't help but wonder at HOW you seem to know exactly where we're going."

"What you should really be concerned with is what will happen if I DON'T know where we're going," Vincent said coolly.

Cloud's jaw clenched.It was times like this that Vincent's experience overshadowed Cloud's leadership abilities."I was just curious is all," Cloud replied, trying not to sound like a pouting child."Is Chaos telling you which direction to go in?"

"You mean is the demon speaking to me?"

"I suppose so, yes."

"Chaos is a demon, Cloud.It speaks in a language that cannot be understood by any human."

"But you can understand it?" Cloud asked shrewdly.

"I'm not human, but I'd like to think that I'm not so far gone that I am capable of understanding the language of a demon.That would imply that I have a darkness inside me that is equal to theirs."

Trying to ignore the chill that ran down the length of his spine, Cloud said, "I guess what I should have asked was if Chaos was in any way, shape, form, communicating with you and directing you down the right path."

"Yes, it is," Vincent replied simply.

Cloud sighed and shoved away a shrapnel of metal that was intent on skewering him in the belly."You're a man of few words, Vincent."

"I send those words back at you, Cloud," Vincent said smoothly, sounding slightly amused in spite of himself.

A grin found its way to Cloud's lips.//Already his speech is becoming slightly less formal.Must be Yuffie's influence.Soon he'll start saying "Gawd!" and "Grossness!"God forbid.//

"Hey, everyone?" Cloud called loudly, noticing a change in the objects that were floating on the surface of the water.

"The HELL do you want?!" Cid snapped.

Ignoring the pilot's grumpiness, Cloud replied calmly, "Watch out for debris on the water.A section of the sewers must have collapsed somewhere around here.There are all kinds of metal shrapnel and plaster floating around.Make sure you don't get skewered by one of the them."

"Hear that?" Cid demanded of Cait."I might get stabbed by a piece of metal, ya damn cat!Gimme a ride on that hunk of junk!"

"No way!" Cait replied stubbornly from where he was seated high and dry on the massive stomach of his moogle."This here is my moogle, Cid!I need it to fight, for crying out loud!"

"You don't fight on the water!" Cid insisted, tugging on one of the moogle's fangs."What are you gonna do if something tries to eat us?Beat it to death with your megaphone!That thing's useless in the water!"

"If it's so useless, then why do you keep asking me to use it?" Cait demanded smugly.

Cid didn't say anything.He only scowled deeply and stormed away from Cait, making a point of splashing sewer water all over the robotic cat as he went.

* * * * *

ALRIGHT.BEGIN AGAIN.

yesss.

"Aw…shit…"

mother.tell.

"Up yours!"

tell now.

"Screw you!"

The pain came again, more intense than before.Fortunately, it was only a quick burst that assaulted every nerve in her body before it was gone, leaving her trembling against her will, her breath coming in ragged gasps from her dry, chapped lips.

mother taught you thingsss.

"W-What?"

you learn thingssss she taught.

"I…I know nothing…"

lying.

"No!I don't know anything!And even if I did know something, you really think I would tell you?!"

we ussse mind probe.

"Well, you know what?You can TAKE your goddamn mind probe and shove it up your ass!Or asses.There's more than one of you guys, right?"

tell now.what mother taught.

"…"

talk.

"…"

The pain came again, encompassing and searing her delicate nerve endings, but this time, she kept her mouth firmly closed, teeth digging into her lower lips until blood welled up in the punctured flesh.She would not give them the satisfaction of hearing her scream.She would not talk.She wouldn't make a sound.

ssssing sssssong.

"…"

ssssing ssssong mother sssssang.

"…"

ALRIGHT.THAT'S ENOUGH OF THIS METHOD.SHE'LL NEVER TALK.PREPARE TO USE THE MIND PROBE.

* * * * * *

Vincent suddenly came to an abrupt halt, his eyes widening.

Cloud cast a worried glance in his direction."You okay?" he asked.

The other man didn't reply.He closed his eyes tightly, the fiery orbs swallowed by darkness.Cloud's night vision was good enough that he could see Vincent raising an unsteady hand to his head, pale fingers sinking into the ebony strands.They dug into his scalp as if in pain, and a nearly inaudible gasp escaped his lips.

Raising a hand to signal a temporary halt, Cloud asked Vincent quietly, "Is something wrong?"

Instead of answering, Vincent's body suddenly leaned violently to one side, and Cloud barely had time to open his arms and catch the taller man as he tumbled towards him.

"Vincent!" Tifa cried, starting to splash towards them, Rude and Elena following close behind her.

Still supporting Vincent's weight, Cloud made a sharp gesture with his hand, telling them to stay back.Vincent was still conscious, and Cloud was sure that the man wouldn't appreciate everyone and their mother running and flocking around him during one of his rare bouts of weakness.

"We have to hurry," Vincent suddenly whispered, using Cloud's shoulder for support as he straightened himself back up again.

"Are you alright?" Cloud asked for what seemed like the third time.He couldn't disguise the worry in his voice.

"I will be if we hurry," Vincent snapped, quickly disentangling himself from Cloud's helping hands and plowing through the water with renewed vigor."Yuffie doesn't have much time."

//Shit…how the HELL does he keep finding out these things?I know Chaos is "communicating" with him, but still, this is intense…//

"Alright!" Cloud called to the others, voice echoing in the sewers."Let's move out!We're getting closer!"

Everyone obeyed, but Cloud could practically hear the questions that were hovering on their tongues, begging to be spoken.He turned away before he was tempted to reply to those soundless demands.How could he even begin to answer their questions when he had so many of his own?

Vincent vaguely heard Cloud rapping out orders to the others, but he allowed the swordsman's words – though not meant for him – to go in one ear and out the other.His only concern was honing in the mysterious force that was calling to him in the distance, drawing and reeling him in.He was strangely pleased that Cloud was putting so much faith in him, but what he didn't want the younger man to know was that Vincent was relying almost completely on Chaos to guide him.Of course, the demon wasn't SPEAKING to him, but it was, in its own way, telling Vincent which way to go.Whenever he tried to take a wrong turn in the winding sewer system, he would feel an inexplicable pain lance through a part of his body, usually his side.Maybe it was the light slap from clawed hand, but who knew?All Vincent knew was that it was Chaos' way of telling him when he was going in the wrong direction.

//Why does Chaos seem as desperate to find Yuffie as I am?Knowing that recovering her from the enemies' hands is something that IT wants should probably suggest that it would be better to do just the opposite…and leave her to die.But…I can't do it…I just can't…//

Shaking his head to expel these thoughts from his mind, Vincent focused on nothing but the fiendish resistance the water kept placing on his legs, trying to shove him backwards.He fought this natural force with every fiber of strength within him, determined not the let anything keep him from achieving his mission.The steady pulsing of Chaos' "voice" in his mind told him that he was headed in the right direction.

Something in the back of his mind told him that he was maybe moving too fast for the others to keep up.Cloud, Tifa, and Rude were having no problems, Vincent could tell.Elena was having trouble keeping up due only to the fact that her legs were shorter, but Vincent could sense her determination in a strong wave that beat against his back.Barret, Vincent knew, was probably having little difficulty moving through the water on account of his prodigious height and raw strength.There were only two reasons for him to be lagging behind in the back.One was to put as much distance between himself and Vincent as possible, thinking that the gunslinger was still angry with him.The other was surely to keep Cid and Cait company.Given his age, Cid had an almost youthful vigor to him, but one cigarette too many was enough to destroy the strength that age couldn't eliminate.Vincent was sure that – though Cid would never admit it – the pilot had trouble breathing sometimes due to lungs that were probably already black with tar. 

As Yuffie would say: Grossness.

Trying to push painful memories of the young ninja out of his mind, Vincent let his eyes rove through the darkness of the sewers.He noticed that the sound of rushing water was getting louder…and then he realized that they had a problem.

Cloud was so focused on keeping up with Vincent's taxing pace that he almost didn't realize that the man had stopped until he practically plowed into his back.

"What's wrong?" Cloud demanded, stepping around so he could stand beside the man, not able to see anything other than Vincent's glowing eyes and crimson headband in the darkness.

"Watch your step," Vincent warned, and Cloud was wondering if he had meant those words in a figurative sense when the older man suddenly reached out and placed his hands palm down into the water in front of him, as if expecting the surface to be solid.Thinking Vincent had seriously lost his marbles this time, Cloud was surprised when the water only rose up to Vincent's elbows.

//There's a solid surface underneath the water there// Cloud realized as Vincent swung himself up to the higher ground.The water was only up to his knees.

Mimicking the man's actions, Cloud sank his gloved hands into the water and felt them come into contact with what had to be cement.Sliding his hands down the hard surface, he found that the new level appeared to span the entire width of the tunnel, like a big stepping block.

"Everyone be careful!" Cloud warned as he levered himself onto the new level, now staring down at the shadowy forms of his friends in the darkness."There's higher ground over here but watch out that you don't slip when climbing up."

He received only a few grumbles in response, mainly from the back ranks.He tried to think of something encouraging to say, but he gave up within the first seconds.He wasn't exactly in a cheery mood.

Resisting the urge to sigh tiredly, Cloud turned around, realized that Vincent hadn't moved from his spot, unusual for someone who seemed to be such in a hurry a few minutes ago.Then, Cloud saw the reason for Vincent's hesitation.

"Oh crap…" he growled, seeing the veritable WATERFALL that they now had to face.The water trickling past Cloud's legs didn't have much power to it, but from the sound of it, the water going down the cement slope in front of him was moving at quite a different speed.A much faster speed.Beyond the end of the slope was the continuation of the river of sewer water they had just waded through, only from what Cloud could see, the new water looked slightly cleaner. 

"What now?" he asked Vincent.

Vincent suddenly crouched slightly and put one booted foot into the rushing water on the slope, testing the strength and depth of the current.

"Well?" Cloud demanded when the man didn't say anything.

"It's not incredibly deep," he replied."And the current isn't terribly fast."

"But that slope is pretty steep," Cloud argued, knowing he was just taking a shot in the dark.He really couldn't see anything to make him arrive at such a conclusion, only the fact that the "river" seemed to pick up FAR below them.

"It's not as steep as it looks," Vincent countered, putting his other foot on the slope in an amazing display of balance.He now had the current beating against his calves."I'll go down first.If I make it, you all can follow."

"Sure," Cloud replied, sounding anything but enthusiastic.

"Vince!" Cid suddenly cried, having climbed up onto the higher ground in time to see Vincent walking carefully down what appeared to be the beginnings of a waterfall."What the hell are you tryin' to do, kill yourself?!"

"You can't even see 'em," Barret muttered from his place next to the pilot.

"I'm sure Vincent needs to use his full concentration," Rude said flatly."It would probably be best if both of you be quiet."

"Yeah," Elena quipped, leaning around Cloud to scowl at Cid and Barret."You two shut up!"

Cid squinted in Elena's direction, his normally keen eyesight failing him in the darkness."Woman, you're…"

Cloud cut him off with a sharp movement of his hand, gesturing for silence.

Together, the seven of them watched nervously as Vincent continued to maneuver his way down the slope.At first, he didn't seem to have much trouble, going down the slope slowly and carefully despite the water beating against his legs and trying to topple him over.But the farther down he got, the stronger the current became, pounding ruthlessly against the man's legs.It was probably Vincent's inhuman strength or his desperation to find Yuffie that gave him the willpower to go on.There were several instances where Vincent was forced to lean backwards and crabwalk his way down, but all his persistence and tenacity paid off, for he made it to the bottom without any serious injury.He crouched agilely on the end of the slope, ignoring the water pounding against his legs, trying to shove him off.Cloud couldn't tell what he was doing, but he seemed to be scanning the depths of the water for any hidden dangers.Apparently seeing none, Vincent hopped nimbly off the slope and into the water.

And promptly sank, the water rising all the way up to his shoulders before it stopped its fiendish ascent.

//Oh crap…// Cloud thought, his heart plummeting to the bottoms of his boots.

"It's deep!" Vincent called up to the others, his hair and the trailing ends of his bandana floating in the water behind him.

Cloud scratched his head."Just great.Okay, anyone under six feet tall is going to have a hell of time navigating.Who here is actually six feet tall or over?"

Silently, Barret and Rude raised their hands, both of them looking a little ill as they watched Vincent tottering around in the water below.

//Great, just two.Alright…that means Cid, Cait, Tifa, and Elena are going to need to find other means of getting around.And me, well, I'll worry about myself later…//

Thinking fast, Cloud turned to the others."Cait, off the moogle."

Cait's mouth fell open, and he clutched at one of the moogle's ears possessively."Aw, c'mon, Cloud!What are you going to do with him?"

Cloud's gaze hardened.He was in no mood for belligerence at the moment."I'm going to give him to Cid.Cait, you get onto Barret's shoulder.You'll be safer up there than you would be on the moogle anyways.Cid, the mog's all yours, I guess.Take good care of it, alright?"

"Roger that," Cid enthused, shooting Cait a smug glare as the robotic cat petted his moogle somberly.

"C'mon, stupid cat," Barret grumped, snatching Cait off the moogle with his human hand.

"Okay, everyone, down the slope.Try not to run into each other, alright?And Cid, watch the moogle!Watch the moogle, I said!"

Going down the slope was living hell.Cloud would have rather had each of them go down one or two at a time, just to avoid any mishaps, but time was growing short, and it already looked as if Vincent was ready to take off without them.Barret and Rude made to the bottom first, and Cloud immediately ordered Barret – with Cait Sith perched on his shoulder – to ahead with Vincent.True, Barret was only taller than Vincent by a few inches, but if those few inches meant that, in the face of danger, Barret would get his gun-arm up faster than Vincent could draw his gun, then such a minor difference was rather important.And Cait Sith…well, if all else failed, Barret could always use him as a projectile…

Second to the bottom was a rather clumsy Cid, who lost his footing three-fourths of the way down the slope and ending up tumbling the rest of the way, Cait's moogle rolling after him.Neither Cid nor the moogle was damaged permanently, but Cid let out the longest stream of cuss words Cloud had yet to hear come from his mouth before the pilot clambered up on the moogle's belly and started following Barret, Vincent and Cait.Making rather practical use of the Venus Gospel, Cid used the spear as a sort of oar to make maneuvering the moogle raft easier.

Cloud purposely lagged behind the others, making sure they had all made it to the bottom safely before crawling up to the edge himself.A quick glance around showed that most everyone was following Vincent's lead.Rude, who had stayed behind at the bottom of the slope, was in the process of lifting Tifa onto his back.This made Cloud frown slightly, but he knew that Tifa would probably be safer with Rude than with him.

That only left…

"Ready, Elena?" Cloud asked calmly, fighting to keep his balance as water pounded against his legs and back.

The short woman turned toward him in surprise."W-What?" she stammered.

"You're going to have to ride on my back," Cloud responded, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.She didn't look particularly pleased about the situation, and he couldn't really blame her.It wasn't like he was a happy camper, either.

"I don't need to ride on your back!" Elena protested indignantly, her gaze, for some reason, straying to where Rude was moving out with Tifa firmly adhered to his back, her long brown hair trailing behind her on the surface of the water.

"Elena…" Cloud said warningly.

"I can swim!" she said hotly, flipping her short blonde hair back from her face.

"I'm sure you can," Cloud replied as calmly as he could manage."But it will be faster this way.Come on."

A scowl darkened Elena's face."Cloud, I SAID that…"

Cloud cut her off with a fierce glare, Mako blue eyes flashing in the darkness."Look Elena, I'm the leader of AVALANCHE and you're a member of the Turks, right?Now get over it.Do you want to find Reeve or not?"

//If he's even still alive…//

That did it.If there was something Elena took seriously, it was her duties as a Turk, one if which was to guard the President, with her life if necessary.For a moment, her eyes once again shot to the tall figure of Rude, but then her face hardened with determination and she carefully climbed up onto Cloud's back, wrapping her arms around his neck in death grip.

However, it was only when Cloud stepped into the water with her on his back that she realized something.

"Cloud!!You're not even that tall!!!Ohmigod!!I'd better not drown, Cloud Strife, or I swear, I'll come back to haunt you!!"

"Shut up, Elena," Cloud tried to say, but only ended up with a mouthful of sewer water.He hated being short. 

* * * * *

Yuffie wasn't even ashamed to admit it anymore.She was scared.The aftershocks from the pain were still coursing through her limbs like unwanted phantoms, but such things were insignificant when she thought about just what this "mind probe" was.The light above her was still obscuring her vision; she couldn't even open her eyes all way without being blinded.Yet, she could hear the things called Hissers moving around in the darkness, and every once in a while, she thought that she caught a glimpse of them – little brown creatures with what a looked to be thousands of arms that were in constantly motion, writhing, twitching, hissing. 

READY?

yesss.

"……"

She waited for it.Waited for the mind-searing agony to tear through her entire body.But all she felt was a sudden, sharp pain lance through her skull, as if she had been pierced with an invisible needle.Then there was nothing.She was about to abandon her code of silence and laugh in their faces when the world around her suddenly vanished, and she fell into infinity.

All around there was blinding white light, wrapping her plummeting form in a whirlwind of intensity.She might have tried to scream, but no sound emerged from her mouth.All she knew was the mindless terror that engulfed her soul, akin to the fear she felt in the deep sea complex.That horribly familiar scent assaulted her nostrils, and a loud throbbing sound filled the air, like the ceaseless pounding of some monster's heart. 

Quite suddenly, Vincent's words – seemingly so far in the past – returned to haunt her.

_"I think there might be something alive down here.Something big."_

And now – in the worst possible moment – she realized that she knew what was making that horrible beating sound.

//No!It can't be…it's still alive…all these thousands of years…//

YOU KNOW!!!TELL USSS NOW!!!!

"No!Never!I'd rather die before betraying my family!"

SSSECRET…TELL NOW!! 

Blinding pain speared her head, and she felt memories from her past surfacing of their own accord, ripped from where she had them cherished in her heart, locked away for safekeeping.Fa-Li had lied when she had told Yuffie that she wouldn't be raped.This was rape, plain and simple.Her mind was being violated, torn apart, all its secrets spilling out in small, sporadic waves, but spilling they were, slowly and surely.Yuffie suddenly felt dirty, tainted; never before had she been violated in such a fashion.And what disgusted her more was that she felt utterly and completely helpless as she sensed memories being extracted from her mind by force, sucked away as if by a hungry leech.

Most were memories of her late mother.Kira Ayami Kotori.Usually referred to merely as Ayami.She saw her mother's beautiful face leaning down to kiss her goodnight, the light scent of her perfume so wonderfully familiar and comforting.Then that loving, heartfelt memory was rudely brushed aside as it gave way to the time Yuffie had watched her mother practicing her martial arts, loose robes billowing around her slender form, dark brown hair flying behind her like a battle banner.Ayami had been such a strong woman – powerful and loving all at the same time.

//Mama…I'm so sorry…mama…//

Yuffie knew what the Hissers were searching for.Her mother's song.The one she had taught Yuffie.Ayami had always said that it was a secret song, one that Yuffie couldn't go around Wutai singing at the top of her lungs, as the little girl was prone to do at times.Yuffie had grown quite a bit from that little innocent girl of so many years ago, and she no longer insisted on making the whole world listen to her off-key singing, but…if memory served her correctly, she had been singing in the shower the night she and Vincent and stayed in the hotel.Had Vincent heard her song?

VALENTINE??VALENTINE KNOWSSS??

"No!Vincent doesn't know anything!You just leave him alone!"

VALENTINE…

"Goddamn you!I said—"

The pressure in her head abruptly increased again as the Hissers' mind probe began ripping into another part of her memories.These were recent, jumbled, and fresh – the memories that Yuffie had put aside for sorting and figuring out later.They were all of Vincent.Vincent looking down at her as they rode the jet ski, his cape covering half of his face, crimson eyes intent as they gazed at her.Vincent in the hotel, holding her gently against him, his scent surrounding her, chasing away the horrible nightmares.Vincent's face so close to hers as they sat underneath the overhang.Vincent coldly ignoring her as he climbed up on the crates, leaving her in the rain.

Despite the predicament she was in, Yuffie found herself vainly reaching out for this last image of Vincent, watching to touch him, his hair, his shoulder, anything.She wanted to follow him up those damn crates.She wanted to yank on his ponytail until he stopped and waited for her.She didn't want him to leave her alone.

//Vincent…//

Something deep inside her seemed to shatter, and quite suddenly, she was in the sewers.The air smelled of rank sewage and decay.Moss and algae clung to the stone walls, having made their homes long before anyone had dared arrive to disturb their sanctuary.Heaps of trash and debris were floating around in the murky water, colliding and bouncing off of each other, begrudgingly changing their courses.

But Yuffie really didn't care about all the glorious crap she was seeing.

She only cared about one thing.Or, more accurately, eight things.

Cloud and the others were in the water, plowing through the nasty liquid with looks of determination on their faces despite the fact that the water was, for the most part, hovering around all of their shoulders, trying its hardest to take them under.

And, in the front and leading the pack, was Vincent Valentine.

Yuffie was ashamed to feel her heart swell with joy at the sight of him, the ends of his black hair and crimson headband trailing in the water behind him.How terrible of her, to ever have doubted her friends!

//They're coming to save me!//

Then, suddenly, the vision shattered like a dropped glass, but Yuffie didn't complain.She knew whatever she had just seen, the Hissers had seen as well.The tumultuous whirlwind in her mind was silent for the first time, distant, contemplating.Apparently, the arrival of AVALANCHE had thrown a nice, big wrench in their plans.

And, of course, Yuffie leapt at the chance to gloat about it.

"Did you guys see that?Huh?Huh?"

Silence.

"They're coming to save me!Don't I just have the bestest friends in the whole wide world?"

Silence.

"Yeah, they all looked pretty pissed off.If I were you guys, I would watch my ass.They're about to find your oh-so-hidden faction down here in this shithole…"

Silence.

"That's right, tremble and be afraid.Now you know how it feels…"

And the silence just droned on and on.


	26. The Prisoner's Release - Part A

Catalina's Notes: Wow, been a long time, ne? ::looks sheepish:: Sorry for the incredibly long wait! Since, I know it's been a while since you last check on this fic, let's do a little review, shall we? Okay, um…  
  
Yuffie's down underground being tortured by the Hissers' mind probe. Vincent and the others are going after her. Tifa is riding on Rude's back, Elena is riding on Cloud's back, Cait's riding on Barret's shoulder, and Cid floating around on the moogle. Reno and Red are pigging out and watching TV back at the bar. Titus and Fa-Li are also underground.  
  
Damn…I suck at summaries. Anyways, there's the chapter! I had to chop it all up since it was WAY too big, but please read it all the way through! O_O  
  
  
The Prisoner's Release  
"It's all been shot to hell. Things can't get any worse." Titus  
  
The Planet had been in existence since the beginning of Time. A living breathing, sentient creature in its own unique way, it had seen the passage of many a race over its long lifetime. I had a consciousness of its own. Pain it knew as intimately as happiness, just as any human did. However, even after the fall of Sephiroth and the destruction of all the Mako reactors, the pain still refused to cease. When the Planet cried, it was a heartfelt shriek of agony, not happiness. The Planet used to sing when it felt joy or contentment. It used to sing just for the sake of singing, because singing was beautiful.  
  
It had been a long time since the Planet had sung.  
  
Ageless and eternal as it was, the Planet had seen the subsequent birth and fall of tribe after tribe, race after race. When the Cetra inhabited the earth, the Planet shared in their contentment and peace. And when the humans arrived and chased the Cetra off their homeland, the Planet didn't know whether to weep at the loss of one race or rejoice at the birth of a new one. But weep it did, because these humans were a bellicose type. So many souls the Lifestream embraced when the humans waged terrible wars against one another, the blood from so many dead warriors soaking into the soil. And in the depths of the Planet, judgment was passed on these lost souls. The Planet had to punish those humans that had forgotten the earthen womb that had given them birth. It was a dirty, foul job, but it was the Planet's duty to maintain dominion over its incorrigible children.  
  
But there were some creatures that the Planet had no control over.   
  
Gods and goddesses were born, worshipped by the human tribes alongside the Planet itself. Water God Leviathan. Shiva the Ice Angel. The Lost Knights of the Round. They survived into modern days, but many had fallen from their original glory. Countless deities encased in summon materia, doomed to be summoned at the whim of any half-witted human. What a travesty, to put such beings in cages of magic, to be called upon to be at the disposal of human beings.   
  
But far more dangerous were the Beasts who were not caged.  
  
Coming into existence when the Planet did, these creatures had lived on into the new age when humans had no respect for life, no reverence for the gods of ancient times. The last beings who would have worshipped them wholeheartedly had long since passed, and these great creatures of lost ages were left without true respect, without true admiration.   
  
This made them angry.   
  
So very angry…  
  
* * * *  
  
Cloud didn't know how he did it, but he somehow managed to move back up to the front ranks alongside Vincent, bypassing Barret and Cait completely. Elena had been behaving rather well despite the fact that she had made it very clear that she wasn't happy at all to be riding on Cloud's back. In fact, she had sort of become his eyes, since more often than not, Cloud found himself blinded by sewer water and his own waterlogged bangs. He soon mastered the art of walking on his toes, something that wasn't too hard in the water. It added a few inches to his height but took a toll on his balance. Several times he had to listen to Elena's whining when he tripped and dunked them both under the sewer water.  
  
The other thing that was tired him out was the fact that Vincent seemed to have increased his pace. Not at all discouraged by the water clawing at his shoulders, Vincent continued to press forward with incredible speed, his hair and bandana trailing behind him in the water meekly, unable to keep up with their owner's pace. Cloud wanted to ask the man how much farther it was, or how much longer they were going to have to walk, or how he *knew* that Yuffie was in greater danger than she was before, or just *how* Chaos was communicating with him without speaking. There were so many questions - so many things he didn't understand. He hated it when one of the greatest mysteries in his life was one of his friends…  
  
"Vincent!" he suddenly heard Rude call. "Can you predict how much farther?"  
  
"Not much," Vincent clipped without turning around. Cloud was surprised he had even bothered to reply.  
  
"Why you asking?" Cid demanded of the normally quiet Turk.   
  
"It's late afternoon already," Rude replied matter-of-factly. "If it took us this long to get down here, it will take us just as long to get back, maybe even longer, since we may be heavier one, possibly two, people."  
  
"It's only afternoon?" Cid echoed incredulously. "Damn…I thought we had been down here at least for a day by now…"  
  
"Being underground distorts human perception of time," Rude said.  
  
"Well, ain't that just laddy-doo and peachy-poo?" Cid said sarcastically as he dipped the Venus Gospel into the water again to keep himself floating along. "Next time you wanna talk, tell us some good news."  
  
Barret turned around to stare at Cid. "You didn't know that being underground messes with yer head?" he asked smugly. "You even stupider than I thought."  
  
Cid scowled deeply. "@#$% you! You're not gonna tell me that you knew about it!"  
  
"I live in a coal-mining town, dumbass."  
  
Cloud rolled his eyes as the two started going at it again. In a few minutes, he knew that Cait and Elena would probably jump in and starting arguing as well, but he had learned long ago that that was what his teammates sometimes did to keep themselves sane. Whatever floated their boats. They could argue themselves silly while he concentrated on keeping up with Vincent's taxing pace.  
  
It turned out that he didn't have to strain himself for much longer; Vincent only led them for a few more minutes before he suddenly came to an abrupt stop. Cloud glanced at him in puzzlement, no longer fighting to keep his head above the water. The ground underneath him had risen slightly, thank the gods.  
  
"What's wrong?" Tifa called from the back.  
  
"Dead end," Vincent said flatly, staring at the unbroken, dark wall in front of them. Cloud followed his gaze, frowning deeply.  
  
//This can't be right//  
  
"You've got to be kidding me!!" Cait lamented, slapping a gloved paw to his furry forehead melodramatically and pretending to faint off of Barret's shoulder.  
  
"We didn't come all this way for nuthin'!" Barret exclaimed angrily, talking to no one in particular.  
  
"You're right," Cloud said suddenly, and something in his voice made everyone else fall silent. "We *didn't* come all this way for nothing." He turned to Vincent, and Elena had to tighten her grip to avoid sliding off his back.  
  
The gunslinger was staring hard at the wall, crimson eyes narrowed and flashing with something that could almost be called anger. Or indignation. Or frustration. Or maybe even fear. What was Vincent afraid of?  
  
"Yuffie's somewhere beyond this wall, isn't she?" Cloud asked evenly.  
  
Vincent shot him a dark glare out of the corner of his eye, as if he loathed even being asked such a question. Cloud would have flinched underneath that gaze if he hadn't been accustomed to Vincent's mood swings.  
  
"Yes," Vincent said at last. "I'm certain she's past this wall. Where, I cannot say, but I know she's there."  
  
"And Reeve?" Elena suddenly asked. Cloud winced at how hopeful her voice sounded.  
  
"I don't know," Vincent said simply.  
  
"Either way," Cloud stated firmly. "We're going in."  
  
"Right," Cait said dubiously. "And, um, just how do you propose we *get* in?"  
  
"It's not a matter of 'in'," Vincent spoke up. "It's a matter of 'under'."  
  
Cid caught on immediately. "Oh HELL no! There's no way in HELL that I'm gonna-"  
  
"I'm going under," Vincent announced. "If I don't come back, then I'm either dead or captured."  
  
He looked at Cloud, and the AVALANCHE leader gave him a slight, respectful nod, some of his waterlogged bangs falling into his eyes. Elena lifted them out of his face in time for him to see Vincent take a deep breath and dive underneath the surface of the water, his overly large shirt ballooning behind him as he disappeared out of sight. A few bubbles surfaced following his submergence, and then there was nothing else.  
  
Even the resident loudmouths didn't dare speak as they all waited to see whether or not Vincent was going to resurface. Cloud prayed he would, and that the man would be bringing good news with him.   
  
//Yeah…good news that - Hey! Guess what, guys? We can go into the supersecret subterranean headquarters of the preternatural bad guys and run the high chances of being devoured by some monstrous anaconda. Good news, indeed.//  
  
But no matter how insensible it might have been, Cloud was hoping that Vincent found an entrance somehow. He had a feeling that if they didn't manage to find Yuffie and Reeve on this swoop, they would probably never find them.  
  
After what seemed like an eternity of waiting not very patiently, Vincent's head finally broke the surface again. The gunslinger sucked huge gulps of air into his oxygen-deprived lungs, shoving long strands of raven hair out of his face as he did so. Everyone leaned forward, a mixture of wariness and grim expectance flickering in their eyes. Vincent didn't say anything, though. He merely stared meaningfully at Cloud, some strange and alien emotion shifting in his eyes, here and then gone. A fleeting thing not used to making its home in those crimson depths.  
  
Cloud's jaw clenched, and he nodded stiffly. "Right."  
  
"Right what?" Elena demanded from her place on Cloud's back. She was still holding his bangs out of his eyes.  
  
"The entrance is at the very bottom of the wall," Vincent spoke up, pointing towards the precise spot with his claw. "It's a large hole that continues down and forward. It should be able to fit two people at a time comfortably. From what I can tell it's a straight shot so we don't have to worry about getting lost."  
  
Cloud nodded, but his heart was already starting to pound in his chest. "Just make sure you keep someone in front and beside you at all times."  
  
"Heyheyhey," Cid said warningly. "Just how LONG is this tunnel? Old men like me can't hold their breath for very long, you know."  
  
"You could if you'd lay off the cigarettes," Elena snapped. Cloud could feel her heartbeat racing against his back, and the hands that were holding his bangs were trembling slightly. Fear had apparently made her snappish.  
  
Cid's true blue eyes narrowed menacingly, anxiety not bringing out the best in the pilot. "Don't you start with me, woman," he growled. "I ain't no good to any of ya'll if I'm dead."  
  
"Vincent?" Cloud asked.  
  
"I'm not sure how long the tunnel is," the man answered calmly. "But we're close to something, very close."  
  
"Well, shit!" Cid suddenly exclaimed, snapping his goggles down over his eyes. "If we're so *goddamn* close, then count me d'fuck in!"   
  
Cloud couldn't decide whether he was being sarcastic or not. You never could tell with Cid.  
  
"What about Cait's moogle?" Tifa suddenly asked, casting a glance at the large pink makeshift raft Cid was still plopped on.  
  
"No prob!" Cait said confidently, hopping to his feet on Barret's shoulder, much to the big man's consternation. "Just tell ol' Cid over there to give him back, and I can get him through!"  
  
Cloud frowned. "Are you sure?"  
  
Cait smiled proudly and adjusted the little crown he had on his head. "Of course I'm sure, O' Fearless Leader! I just need to be there to steer him through, and we'll make it just fine."  
  
Cloud took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. "Alright. Vincent, you lead the way. Barret and Cid, you follow him and don't lose track of him. Then Rude and Tifa. Then Elena and me. Cait, you bring up the rear. Let's go."  
  
* * * * * *  
  
  
The tremors were so faint that Fa-Li didn't even notice them at first. One minute, she was following Titus down a winding tunnel and wondering why the Master had summoned Jezebel and Montana, and the next she was plowing nosefirst into the back of Titus' leather jacket. With a short yelp, she stumbled backwards, her heels fighting for purchase on the rocky floor. Well worn as it was, the craggy ground could still be rather treacherous at times.  
  
"Titus!" she demanded of her companion's shock-still figure. "Don't DO that! The last thing we need is for me to-"  
  
The green-eyed man suddenly whirled around and clamped one of his gloved hands over her mouth, cutting off her words. "Shhh!" he hissed, voice tense.  
  
All her protests dying in her throat, Fa-Li became absolutely still. Their affair a year ago had taught her to trust Titus' instincts before her own. Her dark brown eyes darted around the tunnel they were in, instinctively searching for hidden dangers. Nothing. The tunnel was empty except for the two of them.  
  
Bewildered, she turned her gaze back to Titus, studying his face. Apparently, he was sensing something she wasn't, not that there was anything new about that. He still had his index finger raised in the "shhhh" motion. His white-blond hair shimmered in the darkness like a wayward beacon, and his body was very still, only his green eyes moving as they roved around the entire tunnel - the floor, the walls, everywhere. Thinking she must have missed something, Fa-Li scanned the tunnel again, but all she could detect was a peculiar nervous crackling in the air, like caged electricity.  
  
His hand falling away from her mouth, Titus slowly removed the glove of his right hand, his long fingers looking pale and fragile once stripped of the jet black gloves. The black-violet orb - darker than any kind of materia - glittered in the darkness, looking bloated and monstrous on the back of his hand. Carefully, Titus reached out and placed his hand on the rock wall, fingers unsettling some grit and sending it drifting to the floor. His emerald green eyes slipped closed, and he became stiller than the dead. Fa-Li wasn't even sure he was breathing.  
  
Clenching and unclenching her sweaty hands, she was about to ask Titus what was wrong with the orb imbedded on the back of his hand suddenly started to pulse with a black-purple light, illuminating the farthest reaches of the tunnel and chilling the depths of Fa-Li's soul. There was an unspeakable darkness in that light, and it wasn't the normal kind of blazing/blaring/shining light. No, this light was *pulsing*. Like a heartbeat.  
  
"Titus?" Fa-Li asked, not giving herself the opportunity to be ashamed of the waver in her voice. "What is that? What's going on?"  
  
Titus' green eyes were open and veritably glowing in the foul light pulsing from the orb. "It's the Burrower," he said quietly. "It's awake, and it's angry."  
  
Fa-Li tasted her pulse in the back of her throat. Fear - great and terrible fear - was suddenly all she knew.  
  
Then their world started to fall apart.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
One with one final stroke of his arm, Vincent's head broke the surface of the water. He sucked in a breath of the strange-smelling air and nearly inhaled a clump of his hair in the process. Struggling to draw air into his aching lungs and shove his hair away from his face at the same time, he was only able to catch a brief glimpse of a dimly-lit, echoing cavern all around him before he sensed an ominous force moving beneath him in the water. He water-rolled to the side just in time because, I second later, the waterlogged forms of Cid and Barret broke the surface, fighting to pull air into their oxygen-deprived lungs. Cid was an amusing shade of blue, and Barret was hacking like he had a frog stuck in his throat. A split second later, Rude and Elena broke the surface, followed by Cloud and the bobbing form of Cait Sith and his moogle.  
  
As a chorus of coughs and strangling noises filled the air, Vincent suddenly saw something long and red rise out of water and latch onto his arm. His hand was going for the Outsider before he realized that his mysterious attacker was wearing a glove that bore an uncanny resemblance to the Premium Heart…  
  
Tifa Lockheart suddenly exploded out of the water, clinging to Vincent like her life depended on it. Her burgundy eyes were wide and red-rimmed as she stared at Vincent for a split second before she coughed violently, spitting out the same water that the others were.  
  
"Tifa, I could have shot you," Vincent said levelly, allowing her to hang onto his arm while she struggled not to choke on the water she was regurgitating.  
  
A couple of good, hearty coughs later, the young woman had her voice back and was staring wide-eyed up at Vincent through a soaking wall of brown bangs. "I swallowed…sewer water!" she gasped, shaking his arm for emphasis.  
  
"I see that," he replied coolly.  
  
A sudden tickling ran down his spine, and he turned away from her to scan their surroundings with keen crimson eyes. They had surfaced in a water-filled cavern with a low, rocky ceiling that gave Vincent a vague feeling of claustrophobia. Deep (but clean) water filled the cavern, filling every nook and cranny except for the area on the right side, where the water gave way to dark rocks leading into a dimly lit tunnel.  
  
//That's the way…// Vincent suddenly thought, just before noticing something.  
  
The air was faintly green, and *that* smell hung in the air. The same one in the deep-sea complex. The same one he had scented on Cloud's clothes after the swordsman had battled with the giant snake. The green light that Chaos seemed to fear. And sure enough, when he looked deep within himself with eyes that weren't really there, he felt it - a faint trembling that he knew instinctively to be the demon. It was agitated.  
  
//What do you fear, demon?// he wanted to ask it, but he knew that he would receive no answer. He only hoped that Chaos wouldn't try to force the transformation on him this time around. That was last thing he needed to deal with when Yuffie-  
  
"Let's go," he announced flatly, wrapping his arm around Tifa and starting to paddle them both towards the rocky shore.  
  
"But," Cid wheezed, weakly treading water. "I'm…still…catching…my breath!" Vincent swam right past him with Tifa still slung under his arm, ignoring her vehement protests that she could swim on her own. He knew she was lying; he could feel the fatigue in her limbs.  
  
"That's what you get for smoking all those cigarettes!" Elena told Cid sternly, but despite her attitude, she had Cid by the arm and was tugging him towards the shore. Cloud and the others followed, all in varying conditions but all determined not to make this rescue mission fail.  
  
Navigating the rocks on the shore proved trickier than Vincent had originally thought. They were slippery with moss, water, and some sticky substance that was eerily warm to the touch. No one wanted to be the first to make contact with the goo, but when Vincent put his hand and claw palms down in the gunk and started clambering up onto the rocks, everyone apparently deemed it safe and began their own ascent.   
  
As it was, those present were in a state of semi-disarray (some in the water, some on the rocks, and some climbing onto the rocks) when the first tremors began.  
  
Vincent was the first to feel them, but not in a physical sense. Balancing precariously on one of the slippery rocks, panic that wasn't his own suddenly hit him like a fist in the gut. The breath was stolen from his lungs, and he felt his body falling to the ground, knees striking the rock with enough painful force to keep him conscious. He vaguely heard Tifa and Cid calling to him, asking if he was alright, but he hadn't the strength to formulate a reply. Deep within himself, Vincent felt Chaos shifting violently. A dark tingling feeling spread down his back, signaling the beginnings of the transformation.  
  
//No! Not now!// Vincent shook his head, fighting to maintain control over the demon. Not an easy thing by any standards. His lungs were refusing to function, and he felt darkness creeping in from the edges of his vision, drowning out the worried voices of his friends.  
  
"Vincent! Are you alright?!" Tifa.  
  
"Shit, he's all up in that goo! Get him away from that gross-ass shit!" Cid.  
  
"I think the ground is shaking." Rude.  
  
"Vincent, talk to us!" Cloud.  
  
"Something," Vincent suddenly gasped, voice tearing its way painfully out of his tight throat. He swallowed hard. "There's something alive down here."  
  
Someone grabbed at his shoulders, and he smelled the sharp tang of metal and salt that he had come to associate with Cloud. Warmth surrounded him, and he dimly realized that Cloud must be trying to carry him off the rocks, but was finding footing dangerously unstable in the slick, clear substance covering the rocks. Vincent tried to speak again, to warn them about the tremors, but his voice was refusing to work. The ground started to shake violently when Cloud was in the middle of climbing down a particularly large boulder. Vincent felt the swordsman lose his balance and slide down the side of the boulder, unintentionally releasing his grip on Vincent in the process. Several alarmed cries rang through the cavern, accompanied by loud splashes as some of the others fell back into the water. Vincent and Cloud's fall wasn't that long, but still, the stone floor wasn't exactly the softest cushion. Vincent hit back first, the rocks slamming into one of his shoulder blades with jarring force. The back of his head struck the ground a second later, but surprisingly enough, it seemed to clear his head instead of knocking him unconscious.  
  
His eyes snapped back into focus just in time to see a rock disengage from the ceiling and start to plummet towards him. Reflexes kicked in, and Vincent rolled left. The rock missed him by less than an inch, shattering into dozens of pieces on impact. He wrestled to his feet, barely managing to find footing on the wildly thrashing ground. He stumbled left and would have fallen again if Cloud hadn't caught his arm and steadied them both.  
  
"You alright?!" he demanded of Vincent, voice loud so he could be heard over the roar of the falling rocks and the cries of his comrades.  
  
Vincent stared dumbly at him for a second before recovering his wits. "The tunnel!" he yelled, jerking his head in the direction of the yawning opening. "We have to make it to the tunnel!"  
  
His words were rather needless, as most of the others had already figured out that the shelter of the tunnel was safer than gyrating wildly in the cavern and waiting to be squashed by a rock. Barret and Cait Sith were making a beeline for the tunnel, followed closely by Cid. The two humans had their arms covering their heads to prevent injury from one of the plummeting rocks. Cait Sith wasn't bothering with such precautions, and pieces of rocks kept striking him and the moogle, though they didn't seem to have lasting effects. One of the perks of being made of metal and stuffed with fluff. Quickly, Vincent glanced back towards the water and saw that Rude was in the process of pulling Elena out of the subterranean lake. Tifa was helping him, all three of them covered in water, rock dust, and goo.  
  
Cloud gripped his shoulder and gave him a shove in the direction of the tunnel. "You get over to the tunnel! I'll go help them!"  
  
Anyone with stronger reservations about leaving friends alone in danger would have stubbornly refused to go, but Vincent easily saw the sense in Cloud's logic. *Some* - preferably most - of them had to survive. They would be no use to either Yuffie or Reeve if they were dead.  
  
So Vincent took off running towards the tunnel the best he could, flinging his arms up to cover his head. He didn't know what would happen if he was struck in the head by a rock. He might die, he might not. His abnormalities protected him against injuries, and many things that would have killed a normal human being barely fazed him, but Chaos was the main cause of Vincent's preternatural abilities, and with the demon acting so erratic as of late…he didn't want to take his chances.  
  
Even with the ground shifting violently underneath his feet and a multitude of rocks crashing all around him, Vincent managed to make it to safety without any major mishaps. One rock struck his metal arm with a loud clang, the force of the impact sending him to one knee for an instant before he recovered his balance.  
  
As soon as he managed to lurch into the slightly quivering tunnel, Vincent sagged against the trembling rock wall, bracing himself with both hands and trying to catch his breath. Beside him, he could hear Cid, Barret, and Cait calling out to the others, urging them to hurry. Despite his worry, Vincent forced himself to breathe slowly and deeply, his eyes slipping closed. He could feel Chaos within him, only the demon was doing nothing but emitting this odd *crackling* energy, like a wolf before it launches itself at the throat of its victim. Was Chaos afraid of the earthquake? No, that wasn't it. It almost seemed as if the demon was in a standoff, but with what? Vincent knew the odd smell and the eerie green light had something do with it, but…  
  
He was so confused. He hated being confused.  
  
A strange, cool feeling washed over him, stilling the pounding of his heart and making the sweat and water on his skin chill, like silent tears in the winter, robbed of all their heat. He felt like he was floating in cool darkness in which nothing existed but the pure essence of the mind, infinite and boundless. No body needed. Such a thing was unnecessary for…  
  
Rock tunnel.  
  
Hidden door.  
  
Hallway with cells.  
  
Door, like on a submarine.  
  
Another hallway.  
  
Hallway.  
  
Hallway.  
  
Hallway.  
  
Endless hallway.  
  
And the torture chamber. And Yuffie.  
  
"Vincent!" a voice suddenly cried, right in his ear.  
  
Alarmed at the sudden intrusion, Vincent's eyes snapped open, and his hand was flying towards the Outsider before he knew what he was doing.  
  
Barret held up his arms and took a step back. "Whoa, foo! Don't shoot!"  
  
Vincent let his arm fall from where it had been hovering over the butt of the gun. "What do you need?" he asked calmly.  
  
Barret looked at him incredulously before shaking his head, his skin an odd color in the greenish light of the tunnel. "You always so goddamn calm."  
  
"The ground isn't shaking anymore," Vincent observed, peering around and seeing that Cloud and others had made it through just fine. Elena had a shallow cut on her forehead, but it was nothing serious.  
  
"Well, you're a master of stating the obvious," Cait Sith stammered, not trying to be sarcastic. He was just making nervous chatter. Everyone was covered with water, goo, and dirt from the falling rocks, which had blended into an interesting muddy concoction that dirtied skin and clothes. Anxiety and fear stank up the air alongside the odd scent from the deep-sea complex.  
  
"What's this green light?" Elena suddenly demanded, hugging herself as if cold. "And what's that smell? I don't like it."  
  
"It makes me afraid," Rude deadpanned, sounding more indifferent than fearful.  
  
"It's the same light and smell that was in the deep-sea complex Yuffie and I escaped from," Vincent explained, his level voice drawing everyone's attention. "They seem to be here to evoke unwanted fear in travelers. Now that you know their purpose, fight them."  
  
Everyone stared at him until Cid muttered, "Yeah right." He was tapping the Venus Gospel restlessly against his thigh, keen blue eyes roving back and forth from the water-filled cavern to the dimly lit tunnel that awaited them.  
  
…FAST…  
  
Vincent gasped, leaping away from the wall, hand snaking under the hem of his overly large shirt and closing around the comforting weight of the Outsider, which was in its hip holster.  
  
"Are you alright?" Cloud asked sharply, his own gloved hand hovering over the hilt of the Ultima Weapon.  
  
"We have to hurry," Vincent rapped out tersely, moving down the tunnel.  
  
"You really *do* know where Yuffie is, don't you?" Tifa asked softly.  
  
Vincent stopped and turned to stare her right in the eyes. "Yes, I do."  
  
His friends gazed at him solemnly, dozens of emotions flitting across their faces before finally settling on one: trust. They believed him, and they believed *in* him.  
  
God help them all.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Don't stop!!!! Keep going -------------------------------- 


	27. The Prisoner's Release - Part B

  
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Cid demanded, sounding gung-ho despite the fear in his eyes. The green light was obviously taking its toll on him.  
  
"Someone should remain behind to guard our escape route," Rude suddenly suggested, casting a glance over at the ravaged cavern. "There may be aftershocks. We don't want our only way out of here to be cut off."  
  
Cloud frowned, obviously not too keen on the idea of splitting up. "You're right, I guess. Anybody want to volunteer?"  
  
Cait Sith raised his hand. "Me! I'll stay!"  
  
A dubious look crossed Cloud's face. "You can stay, but someone else needs to stay as well. If something other than aftershocks decides to put in an appearance, I'm afraid you're only so intimidating. No offense."  
  
"None taken!" Cait replied cheerfully.  
  
Cloud glanced at around at his comrades, waiting for someone to speak up. When no one did, he turned to where Elena and Rude were standing next to each other.  
  
"I know you don't like to be separated, but can one of you stay?" he asked calmly.  
  
A scowl darkened Elena's face. "Why us?" she demanded. "You're always splitting us up! Why don't you let Tifa or Barret stay behind?"  
  
"Yuffie is one of their closest friends," Cloud explained before anyone else could reply. "They want to be there when we rescue her."  
  
Elena looked like she wanted to say something, but all the fight suddenly drained from her form. Her shoulders sagged, and she heaved a weary sigh, looking pitiful in her mud-covered suit. "I'll stay," she grumbled, trudging over to stand next to Cait. The robotic cat patted her shoulder sympathetically.  
  
"Thank you, Elena," Cloud said sincerely.  
  
She wouldn't look at any of them. "Yeah, yeah," she said begrudgingly, waving her hand is a dismissive gesture. "Just go on. If the sky starts falling again, me and the cat will go and try to catch all the goddamn rocks or something."  
  
With those words of reluctant closure, everyone turned back to where Vincent was waiting calmly, using a blank expression to hide his impatience. He didn't even wait for a nod from Cloud or any indication that the swordsman was relinquishing control over to him; instead, he just whirled and started striding down the rock tunnel, one hand hovering near the Outsider in case he needed to draw it quickly. This was a shot in the dark, and Vincent had no idea what might be waiting him around the next corner. Normally, he would never have risked his life on such a measly lead, but he had never felt this *desperate* before.  
  
Crimson eyes darting around the tunnel, he searched relentlessly for the hidden door he had seen in his mind. The smell in the air was starting to make him a little light-headed; it seemed to be more potent down here than it had been in the deep-sea complex. But it wasn't really that aggravating compared to Chaos, who was still emitting that crackling energy and just generally being a bothersome nuisance. It was extremely distracting, especially when Vincent needed to concentrate now more than ever, but he also noticed that when he focused on Chaos' unseen energy, it was almost as if he could feel the hidden door *pulling* him. However, it was a lot like creeping closer to a patch of quicksand; if he wasn't careful, he would get pulled under, and Chaos would take control of his body.  
  
"Talk to us, Vincent," Cloud suddenly said tightly. His fear was a sharp, hard-edged smell in the air, and once again, Vincent knew the green light was to blame. Cloud didn't spook easily.  
  
"I'm looking for a hidden door," Vincent said curtly, reaching out with his claw and trailing it over the rock wall, the sensitized metal picking up a faint trembling within the earthen surroundings. Seemed like they hadn't seen the last of the earthquake yet.  
  
"What does this door look like?" Barret demanded.  
  
"Don't know," Vincent said, moving down the tunnel with the others trailing behind him. "I'll know it when I get close to it."  
  
//Chaos, tell me where it is// he called to the demon. Of course, it didn't reply, the blasted creature. It probably couldn't even understand him.  
  
"I don't want to spend all goddamn day looking for a friggin' door," Cid grumbled, sounding jittery.  
  
"We're not looking for a door," Tifa said nervously. "We're looking for Yuffie and Reeve."  
  
//Yuffie// Vincent thought, still running his claw over the wall. What if he didn't get to her in time? He suddenly realized that he might not be able to tolerate his own presence any longer if he found her dead…or didn't find her at all. Just picturing her youthful face with its stormy gray eyes still untouched by the greater sins of man made a strange ache blossom in his chest. It seemed like ages since he had seen her last. A wave of sudden dizziness washed over him, and it was suddenly as if he could hear her voice, smell her scent. He felt a strange presence in the air.  
  
And just like that, he knew where the door was.  
  
Pushing away from the wall, he strode across to the opposite side of the tunnel, forcing Tifa and Rude to move aside hastily as he ran his hands over the rock wall. He could feel it. The door was here, right in front of him. The tunnel trembled slightly, bits and pieces of stones falling around them. A couple of rocks the size of Ping-Pong balls struck Vincent's back, but he paid them no heed, for the dislodging of the rocks had allowed him to see a flash of metal hidden deep in the wall. It was the edge of the door.  
  
Hooking his fingers - both fleshly and metallic - into the small area, he pulled with all his might and felt the section of the wall give a little.  
  
"Help me pull," he urged no one in particular. Tifa and Rude immediately went over to him, placing their hands in alignment with his and pulling when he did. The rock wall budged a little more.  
  
In the end, it took the combined strength of Vincent, Rude, Tifa and Cloud relentlessly pulling on the section of wall and Cid using the unbreakable spearhead of the Venus Gospel as a lever of sorts for them to coax the concealing rock wall away from the metal door beyond it. Barret, with a gun for one arm, was of little use and could do nothing but shift his weight anxiously from foot to foot. Short-lived tremors shook the tunnel twice during the agonizingly slow process, but each time, the wall seemed to move just a little more.  
  
The hidden door was grossly simplistic after all the strenuous labor they had undergone just to reveal it. Made of plain gray metal untouched by rust or any other sign of age, it had one shiny handle on it, which Vincent touched tentatively, making sure it wasn't magicked. When he picked up no sense of otherworldliness from the handle, he grabbed it and pushed the door open, the others crowding in behind him, their hands ready to pull out their weapons.  
  
But there was no need for weapons. The door swung open to reveal a long, metal corridor. A metal corridor lined with silent cells on either side, lit with small but intense lights imbedded in the ceiling. The smell of fear and blood hung in the air, like old death with a bad aftertaste, but the odd, fear-inducing smell wasn't present in the corridor. Neither was the green light. The absence of those two factors made the corridor a generally more pleasant place to be than the tunnel.  
  
"This is the way," Vincent said by way of explanation as he stepped into the tunnel, his borrowed boots clanging against the metal floor. He felt the others entering behind him, the fear-sweat that had clung to them in the tunnel beginning to dissipate.  
  
"Alright," he heard Cloud say. "You just concentrate finding the way to Yuffie. We'll cover your back, Vincent."  
  
"Appreciate it," Vincent said softly, but he still had to resist the urge to unholster the Outsider and carry it around with him. But there was no use drawing a gun if you didn't intend to fire it.  
  
Nothing stirred in the cells to either side of them as Vincent led the way down the corridor, his eyes locked on the door at the end. A door with a circular handle, like one might find on a submarine. He was definitely on the right track. The *pulling* feeling was stronger, almost as if Yuffie herself was calling to him. Vincent could faintly hear the others conversing softly behind him, but all his attention was riveted on the door. When he got close enough, he simply ran the last ten feet to the door, filled with a sense of urgency. He wrapped both of his hands around the aged metal of the handle, flakes of rust falling to the metal floor. He twisted it experimentally, pleased to find that it wasn't that hard to turn. He could probably get it open all on his own.  
  
Cid and Barret came up behind him, looking over his shoulders curiously. Even as he turned the handle, Vincent could sense that Cloud, Tifa and Rude were further down the corridor, talking softly amongst themselves as they peered into the cells lining the corridor.  
  
//They must be looking for Reeve//  
  
As Vincent gave the handle another creaking turn, he wondered if he should tell them that Reeve wasn't in this prison corridor. Reeve wasn't anywhere in the immediate vicinity, or Chaos would have alerted him to the man's presence. But Reeve wasn't dead either, or Chaos would have told him that as well. Neither of those pieces of information was very comforting, so Vincent didn't say anything. It was always better to keep quiet, anyways.  
  
The door suddenly shifted under his hands, swinging open with a faint creaking sound. There was another tunnel beyond the open threshold. He could feel something calling him in the distance. Yes, this was the way.  
  
Vincent was about to step through the door when he suddenly heard Tifa cry out in alarm. The Outsider was in his hand before he whirled around. Beside him, Cid and Barret also took battle-ready stances.  
  
Quite a bit of way down the corridor, Cloud, Tifa, and Rude stood bunched together. The Ultima Weapon gleamed bright and brilliant in Cloud's gloved hands; his hard, Mako blue eyes stared out from either side of the unnatural blade as he handled it with an ease usually exclusive to larger men. Tifa and Rude flanked him on both sides, their fists up and ready.  
  
In front of them stood a young man.  
  
He was leaning on one of the cell doors, his positioning allowing both trios to clearly see his profile. Short and pale with forgettable features, he wore a plain brown robe that covered almost every inch of his body and dragged on the floor. The hood was bunched up behind his head, making him look even smaller than he already was. He didn't move, just stood there, separating Cloud's group from Vincent's.  
  
"Who are you?!" Barret demanded, his voice booming and echoing in the corridor.  
  
The man smiled with his eyes still closed. It wasn't a nice smile. He didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that five angry members of AVALANCHE and one not-too-pleased Turk were surrounding him.  
  
"Get out of our way," Cloud ordered flatly. "Or we're going to have to through you."  
  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the man said in a soft, breathy voice. "This faction is falling apart. The only thing that awaits you further into the earth is a certain doom." All these morbid words were said in a cheerful tone, as if this was the most glorious day of the man's life.  
  
"We don't care," Cloud said harshly. "Let us pass."  
  
The man smiled wider and suddenly opened his eyes, revealing innocent, empty wells of pale blue. "I can't let you do that," he told Cloud lightly.  
  
The swordsman's jaw clenched, and without taking his eyes off the strange man, he called to Vincent, "You guys go on. Find Yuffie. We'll take care of this guy."  
  
Vincent hesitated, his grip tightening on the Outsider. He shouldn't leave the three of them alone. He and Barret were the only long-range fighters at the current moment. They had a Long Range materia, but it was, unfortunately, sheathed in Cait's Fire Armlet. Of course, they could always use magic, but it was imprudent to attack their opponent without first knowing what his strengths and weaknesses were. And despite his benign appearance, Vincent could sense a deep well of power in the man. He was afraid that if he left with Cid and Barret, Cloud and the others would find themselves in over their heads.  
  
The AVALANCHE leader apparently sensed Vincent's hesitation and didn't like it. "Vincent, just go!" he snapped. "We'll be fine."  
  
The strange man suddenly turned those soulless blue eyes to gaze at where Cid, Barret, and Vincent were clustered around the end of the corridor, the tunnel stretching out behind them. "Yes," he said pleasantly. "I believe you'd better go after your friend, Vincent Valentine. Do you feel her pulling to you in the distance?"  
  
Vincent stiffened.  
  
"You know what that is?" the young man continued, still smiling. "She's just become expendable. And she's calling to you because she's scared. Our little world is falling apart. We can't have any witnesses hanging around, can we? Better hurry now."  
  
Vincent glared at the man, his blood-red eyes locking onto the sanguine face. Those eyes could tell a lie and never flinch, but Vincent could *feel* the truth in the man's words. Chaos shifted inside him, and the man's eyes suddenly widened slightly, as if in surprise.  
  
However, Vincent had no intention of hanging around to see what had surprised the man. "Let's go," he ordered Cid and Barret, turning on heel and running out of the corridor, into the tunnel beyond. The two AVALANCHE members reluctantly followed, with frustrated, regretful glances back at their three comrades.  
  
"We gotta hurry back," Cid urged as he ran after Vincent. "They're gonna need our help!"  
  
"I know," Vincent said calmly, but his thoughts were elsewhere. The pulling feeling was stronger, more urgent, drawing him like a moth to a flame. Was Yuffie in danger again? The strange man had said that they were practically getting rid of all the evidence that this little faction - as he had called it - ever existed. And that, of course, meant killing off all the prisoners as well. And what of Reeve? Was it already too late for him? Vincent prayed that that wasn't the case.  
  
The tunnels surrounding them became just one mindless blur without true shape or definition as Vincent ran down them. The green light and odd smell had reappeared at some time or the other, but Vincent did his best to ignore them both. Now there was also a faint beating sound in the air, like the pulse of a giant's heart. In its own way, it was more unnerving than the light and the smell, and when Vincent tried to concentrate on the "pulling" feeling, the echoing pounding only got louder. He gritted his teeth in frustration but kept on moving. He knew he was the only one hearing the beating sound, or Cid and Barret would have said something by now. It was no use mentioning it to them and making them worry about something that wasn't affecting them.  
  
Several times during the course of their run, tremors shook the tunnel, sending small rocks raining down them. Each time the tremor was longer and more severe, and the last one flung them against the walls of tunnel. Time was running out, and all three of them knew it. If they didn't hurry, the walls and ceiling were going to collapse and crush the life out of them.  
  
After what seemed like an eternity, the invisible energy that had been stringing Vincent along all this time suddenly drew taut, like a cord ready to snap, full of urgency and tension. Vincent stumbled to a stop, barely winded. Cid and Barret were gasping for breath, unable to form words. Looking around furiously, Vincent saw that they had ended up in a tunnel that was an intriguing mixture of rock and metal, natural and unnatural all at once. Yuffie was very close by. Very close.  
  
Cid suddenly tapped Vincent on the leg with the Venus Gospel, forcing the gunslinger to turn around. The pilot's chest was heaving, sweat glistening on his brow and running down his face. His blue eyes looked almost feverish, but he still managed to gesture further down the tunnel with the end of his spear.  
  
"Door!" he gasped.  
  
Frowning, Vincent whirled around, searching the metal and rock walls for anything out of the ordinary. He was starting to think the green light was making Cid see things when he suddenly spotted a handle protruding from amongst the rocks. Had Cid been standing a few more inches to the left, he would have missed it as well.  
  
Nodding his thanks to the weary pilot, Vincent covered the distance to the door in two steps, grabbing onto the latch recklessly, not even checking for magic this time. He felt nothing from the metal handle, but when he pulled it down and tried to push or pull, the door wouldn't budge.  
  
"Locked?" Barret asked, sounding only slightly out-of-breath this time around.  
  
Vincent nodded grimly and quickly pressed the barrel of the Outsider against the handle. Barret and Cid backed up automatically, turning their faces away when Vincent did. The red-eyed man pulled the trigger, and the handle went flying off the door with a defeated whistling sound. Vincent kicked in the door just as another tremor shook the tunnel, sending all three of them tumbling artlessly into the room beyond.  
  
"Shit! Yuffie!" Cid cried as soon as he regained his balance.  
  
Vincent would have echoed his cry if he had been able to find his voice. A million emotions suddenly burst from their cages and rushed through his heart - relief, fear, surprise, maybe even happiness. But the emotion running rampant through his mind was fear.  
  
They were in a torture chamber. There was no mistaking that fact. No obvious torture devices were lying around in the darkness, but the stench of terror and death in the air was something exclusive only to places where pain was inflicted on hapless victims. A light so intense it burned the eyes was rooted somewhere in the ceiling above, and it was blaring down the center of the room, illuminating the shackled figure of Yuffie Kisaragi. She was still dressed in the tank top and shorts Tifa had lent her the day before, only now they looked a bit more ravaged, torn in some places. The chains were holding her arms out to the sides and slightly above her head; her feet were chained as well. She still had Vincent's bandana tied around her left shoulder, and the crimson brightness of fabric stood out against her pale skin. Her body was limb, sagging in the chains like some forlorn rag doll. Her head was lowered, and she wasn't moving.  
  
Barret immediately started forward, but Vincent threw out his claw, stopping the big man in his tracks. But no amount of threats could stop Barret from protesting with worried harshness.  
  
"What the hell you doin'?!" he whispered-hissed at Vincent. "We gotta go to her!"  
  
"Just hold on a second," Vincent ordered quietly, eyes darting around the room suspiciously. "There have to be some sort of inhabitants down here, but we haven't seen any so far. This room is…too quiet. I don't think they'd leave a prisoner unguarded in such a time of crisis."  
  
Cid shifted slightly. "So you think something hiding in here?" he asked.  
  
Vincent nodded. "I don't see anything, but that doesn't mean nothing is here."  
  
Barret frowned deeply. "Well, we can't just stand here all day long."  
  
"I know," Vincent deadpanned. He wanted nothing more than to run to up to Yuffie's unconscious figure and see if she was alright, but…something was wrong. The grotesque spotlight shining down on Yuffie was too bright. The shadows in the room were too thick, too dark, and Vincent suddenly received the impression that if he reached into that darkness, he would meet a solid wall rather than liquid black. It was more than a bit unnerving.  
  
"Alright," Vincent said at last, unable to hold back any longer. "Let's go, but watch your back."  
  
"Always," Cid said firmly, the spearhead of the Venus Gospel glittering in semi-darkness near the door.  
  
Outsider in his hand, Vincent moved quickly towards the platform Yuffie was standing on. His eyes kept darting around the room, not trusting the deceptive shadows. The darkness was stifling, and he felt like it was closing around them, suffocating them. He quickened his pace, ignoring the itchy feeling between his shoulder blades that told him he was being watched by unseen eyes.  
  
A wall of dark brown hair hid Yuffie's face from view until Vincent was standing directly under her, looking up at her delicately closed eyelids and slightly parted lips. He could see the faint rise and fall of her chest as she breathed and was thankful that she had the life in her to even draw a breath. He was so glad to have found her at last, so glad in fact that the extent of emotion he felt was humiliating.  
  
"Yuffie," he whispered softly. He wanted to reach out and touch her bare leg, feel her skin underneath his fingertips, just to make sure she was real, but instead, he vaulted easily onto the platform, letting the horribly intense light wash over him, pierce him.  
  
"Hurry it up, Vince," Cid urged, eyes roving the darkness methodically, searching for threats.  
  
Vincent nodded, squinting underneath the harsh lighting. The dipping collar of Yuffie's tank top had begun to slip dangerously low, exposing the tops of her breasts, and he adjusted it out of a sense of propriety, knowing that if Yuffie had been awake to see him doing that, she probably would have popped him one. Reaching out, he gently tucked a portion of her hair behind one of her ears, his fingers grazing her warm, almost feverish skin. She was clearly alive, but that didn't mean she was out of danger yet. It didn't appear as if she had sustained any physical damage - at least none that he could see - but he had suspected from the beginning that the torture was going to be done through her mind. Keeping his palm cupping the side of her face, Vincent examined the shackles binding her limbs. The ones locked onto her wrists were attached to a chain that was ridiculously long, the end of it latched onto the edge of high walkway that encircled the top portion of room.  
  
//Where they can oversee the torture process// Vincent thought angrily.  
  
Looping his left arm around Yuffie's waist and holding her against him gently, he pointed the Outsider down at the length of chain binding her feet to the platform. Closing his eyes and shielding the side of Yuffie's face with his own, he pulled the trigger, and the chain snapped cleanly in half. Of course, there was still the job of getting the cuff itself off of Yuffie's ankle, but they could worry about that later. Vincent had a stretch a little in order to get a clear shot at the other chain. He could fire a gun with his claw, but his aim wasn't very accurate, a very bad thing at a time like this when precision was of the essence.  
  
He was just about to pull the trigger when a hissing sound suddenly crept through the room, unnaturally loud in the silence. Cid let out of a cry of surprise, and a split second later, something shifted in the shadows to the left of the platform. Vincent immediately readjusted his aim as a creature emerged from the darkness and into the circle of light. It could have been more than two feet tall, and it looked like nothing more than a shapeless mass of brown, glistening flesh. It had two short, stubby legs that forced it to waddle clumsily, and there were two limbs protruding from its ventral side that might have been arms, only these arms had dozens of other phalanges that were in constant motion, writhing back and forth as if alive. The thing hissed like a basket full of vipers.  
  
Vincent shot it, and the creature was blown back into the darkness, still hissing. He hadn't killed it. He didn't know if he had even *wounded* it.  
  
The hissing sound suddenly grew louder and, whirling around, the gunslinger saw that dozens of the little brown creatures were emerging from the shadows and moving towards the intruders, forcing Cid and Barret to back up until they were pressed against Yuffie's torture platform. Vincent's eyes narrowed. Had these creatures been hiding in the shadows the entire time? Why hadn't he been able to see them?  
  
"Shit!" Cid cried, swinging his spear in the direction of the approaching micro-army of hissing creatures. "Hurry it up, Vincent!"  
  
Trying to ignore the things that were congregating behind the platform, Vincent quickly shot off Yuffie's other ankle shackle and aimed upwards at the chain holding up her right arm. He pulled the trigger, and the links snapped, Yuffie's arm flopping bonelessly down to her side, the remaining chain length jangling unpleasantly. By that time, some of the Hissers were nearing the platform, and he had to fire into the writhing mass of them while still holding Yuffie's unconscious body against his to keep her from swinging off the platform.  
  
Behind him, he suddenly heard Cid let out a loud cry of pain. Twisting his head around, he saw the pilot crouched on the floor, bracing his weight with the Venus Gospel and clutching his other hand to his head. There was a look of intense agony on his face.  
  
"What's wrong with him?" Vincent demanded, voice coming out much calmer than he felt.  
  
"Hell if I know!" Barret exclaimed, eyes darting back and forth from the approaching creatures to his fallen comrade. "Cid, get yer ass up!" He swung the Missing Score over and fired at a couple of Hissers that were getting dangerously close to the pilot.  
  
"Get out," Cid suddenly snarled, clawing at his head with his one free hand, fingers raking through the short blonde hair. "Getoutgetoutgetoutgeout!" He lurched to his feet drunkenly, clutching the Venus Gospel in his unsteady hands. A cold feeling washed over Vincent.  
  
"Look out, Barret!" he cried, wrapping his arms around Yuffie and throwing his weight against her, moving them both out of the way just as Cid swung his spear in a wide, blind arc, aiming for something he couldn't see. Barret let out a loud curse, and Vincent heard the spearhead of the Venus Gospel hit something metallic, mostly like the big man's gun-arm. The air screamed as the spear swung in Vincent's direction, and he felt the razor-sharp tip of it slice through the back of his shirt, leaving a gaping hole in the black fabric.  
  
Spinning by Yuffie's one remaining shackle and nearly swinging off the platform, Vincent managed to whirl them both around, fighting to keep his balance while raising the Outsider at the same time. He didn't want to shot his friend, but if he had to choose between wounding one comrade and saving the lives of two others, then Cid was going to have to be the one to take the bullet. But as soon as he sighted down the barrel of the gun, he saw that Cid was once again on the ground, this time clutching both of his hands to his head. The Venus Gospel lay forgotten at his side.  
  
Raising his one free arm into the air, Vincent yelled, "Fire 3!"  
  
The Fire materia sheathed in the Outsider blazed with furious green light, and flames suddenly exploded amongst the Hissers, driving most of them back from Cid. However, the hissing sound only got louder, and Cid cried out in pain again.  
  
"Barret!" Vincent called. "Fire at those creatures! I'm certain they're the ones that are hurting him!"  
  
Barret didn't need to be told twice. He immediately opened fire, plowing down several of the Hissers. Hoping that Barret would manage to hit the one that was attacking Cid, Vincent pivoted and shot off Yuffie's remaining shackle. The young woman sagged against him, free at last. Gathering her up in his arms gently, Vincent held her close and was just about to hop down to ground level when the earth around them suddenly began to shake violently, flinging him off the platform and to the harsh rock floor. Vincent twisted so that his back ended up absorbing most of the impact; Yuffie was safe within the circle of his arms. He half-expected the Hissers to swarm all over him like a pack of hungry hyenas, but to his surprise, the brown creatures were skittering back into the shadows, their hisses slowly dying off. Instinctively, he curled himself around Yuffie, burying his face in her hair in an attempt to shield her from any debris that might be falling from the ceiling. Half the upper-level catwalk suddenly collapsed with the squeal of grinding metal and plummeting rock. Vincent could only pray that their exit wasn't going to be cut off.  
  
The tremors suddenly died down to a mild shaking, and he was on his feet in an instant, supporting Yuffie's weight easily. Barret was standing as well, but he had a small stream of blood running down the dark skin of one of his arms, where a particularly sharp rock had struck him. Cid was also climbing shakily to his feet, still holding a trembling hand to his head.  
  
"You alright, old man?" Barret asked him gruffly.  
  
"No!" Cid snapped angrily, sounding severely shaken. "Let's just get the @#$% outta here!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
C'mon...just a little more! -------------------- 


	28. The Prisoner's Release - Part C

"Your friend Vincent - he's quite a unique one, isn't he?" the blue-eyed man asked lightly, his voice still maddeningly cheerful. He turned his full attention to Cloud, Tifa and Rude. Goody.  
  
"What do you mean 'unique'?" Cloud asked flatly. He had idea what the odd man was talking about, but he decided to play dumb.  
  
"Quite a beast, isn't he?" the man asked, then laughed as if he had just told the funniest joke in the world. Cloud frowned at him and tightened his grip on the Ultima Weapon, not at all bothered by the sword's weight.  
  
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Tifa demanded harshly from her place where she was guarding Cloud's left side, his fists held at the ready.  
  
The man smiled cheekily. "Never mind. You wouldn't understand anyways."  
  
Cloud grew tired of the stranger's shady ways. "Who are you anyways?" he snapped. "Why do you insist on standing in our way?"  
  
The man's pale blue eyes were empty and innocent, his mouth an "O" of surprise. "Oh my," he lamented. "I would have thought the leader of AVALANCHE would have been a bit…quicker on his feet."  
  
A tight smile came to Cloud's face. "It's been a long day."  
  
"I can see that," the man said conversationally, folding his arms across his chest, two pale hands peeking out from the billowing sleeves of his robe. "Well, if you really have to know, my name is Ajax, and I'm not going to let you get any further into our lair."  
  
Something suddenly occurred to Cloud, and without turning, he asked, "Rude? Is this-"  
  
"No," Rude said immediately. "This is not the Running Man. The man I saw in the labs was taller, and he *felt* different from this one."  
  
"My, my," the man exclaimed, sounding impressed. "Quite the perceptive one! I suppose one needs to be perceptive to be a Turk, don't they, Rude Dominicus Sheik?"  
  
Rude didn't say anything, but Cloud heard him inhale sharply. As an unspoken rule, Turks weren't supposed to have last names. Their pasts were - for the lack of a better description - wiped out when they join Shinra.  
  
"How did you know Rude's name?" Tifa snapped. Cloud could feel her tensing, like a panther ready to strike.  
  
Ajax smiled again, still annoyingly cheerful as he began to saunter towards them casually. "I know everything about AVALANCHE and the Turks. It's only practical to know your enemies, isn't it?"  
  
"So everyone down here considers us an enemy?" Cloud asked sharply. "Is that why you took Reeve and Yuffie from us?"  
  
"I'm not at liberty to say," Ajax replied, one of those infuriatingly happy smiles still on his face. Now that he was closer, Cloud noticed that the stranger was actually shorter than he was, a true rarity. The slight build and the jovial disposition made Ajax seem to be around Yuffie's age, but his soulless, ancient eyes told a different story.  
  
"Tell us where our friends are!" Tifa demanded, edging forward menacingly, burgundy eyes blazing with angry fire.  
  
Ajax shrugged gracefully, a look of mock-sadness on his youthful face. "Why worry about them?" he asked. "They're probably already dead by now."  
  
//He's lying// Cloud thought. //Vincent knows where Yuffie is. He knows she's not dead//  
  
"Tell you what," Ajax continued. "Since you really don't have any reason to be here, how about if I just let you three turn around and walk away?"  
  
Cloud shook his head. "You're a liar. You won't let us escape. You intend to kill us."  
  
Another one of those shrugs. "You're right."  
  
His words were followed by a loud pounding sound, like an abnormally powerful fist striking a metal wall. Immediately, the sound came again, and Cloud realized that behind Ajax, something was trying to break free of one of the cells. He could see the metal door bending outwards as whatever was in the cell kept slamming against the door over and over again.  
  
"Um," Cloud started. "Ajax, you might want to look behind you."  
  
Ajax just stood there, smiling serenely, blue eyes devoid of fear.  
  
With a loud crash, the door suddenly flew from its hinges to strike the opposite wall with a metallic clang that echoed down the prison corridor. Cloud held his breath, muscles locking in place, fully expecting some humongous monster to come lumbering out the cell, roaring and screeching. But instead, what he got was the anticlimactic appearance of a man-like creature that walked gracefully and quietly on two legs, just a human would. Only there was no way this thing was human. It was a pink, fleshly creature, completely smooth all over, with a bald head…and no face.  
  
"Faceless Man," he breathed in shock. So this was one of the creatures Vincent and Yuffie had faced…  
  
Ajax laughed softly as the creature came up behind him. "Is that what you call it? Very practical name, I must say."  
  
Cloud watched the creature warily, wondering if it was going to attack Ajax before the swordsman realized that the blue-eyed man must have summoned the Faceless Man from its cell. It wouldn't lay a finger on Ajax unless it was ordered to. Damn.  
  
"Surrender," Ajax ordered cheerfully. "And I'll spare your lives. There's no use fighting this creature." He gestured to the Faceless Man that had come to a stop at his right side. "It's very tough, let me assure you. You can hack it to pieces and beat it to a bloody pulp, and what's left of it will still keep coming after you. Bullets won't work either, Rude-san."  
  
A quick glance to the left revealed that Rude had taken out his gun and was aiming it in the general direction of Ajax and the Faceless Man, his pale green eyes flat and emotionless.  
  
Cloud was about to tell Ajax that he and friends were going to call his bluff when a low moaning rang through the prison corridor, chilling Cloud to the bone. Next to him, Tifa shivered violently, and Cloud had to suppress a shudder of his own as he looked down towards the end of the corridor - near the gaping door Vincent and the others had vanished through - and was horrified to see a pair of emaciated, pink arms sticking out the spaces between the cell bars, scrabbling at the air with raw, bleeding fingers. The pitiful moaning flowed down the tunnel like a foul stench, and this time Cloud didn't bother not trying to shudder.  
  
Ajax suddenly turned his back to them and put his hands on his hips, staring down at the end of the tunnel, the Faceless Man waiting patiently at his side, still as the dead. "That thing's going to turn into an Evict," the blue-eyed man said conversationally. "I tell you, these creatures are so utterly-"  
  
Cloud didn't even wait for the man to finish. His mouth was already opening and giving the signal to attack when his cry was cut short by a blast of light from the blade of the Ultima Weapon. He took one hand off the sword and covered his eyes to avoid being blinded. As he turned his face away from the light, he saw Tifa also covering her eyes.  
  
//What the hell's going on?!//  
  
A powerful tremor suddenly shook the ground, nearly throwing Cloud backwards into Rude. He stumbled and almost fell, the Ultima Weapon pulsing in his hand, showering the corridor with blinding white light intense enough to pierce the soul. He was blind.  
  
"An interesting weapon you have there," Ajax suddenly commented, voice gone dead serious. Cloud couldn't see him because of the light and the violently trembling ground, but he thought that the man sounded WAY too goddamn calm for someone who was caught in the middle of an earthquake.  
  
The tremors suddenly died down, though the metal floor beneath Cloud's feet was still quivering slightly, doing nothing for his balance as he took up his stance again, trying to ignore his blasted sword as it continued to pulse with light, as if it had some kind of luminescent heart within its cage of unnatural metal.  
  
"Where did you get that sword?" Ajax demanded, visible only when the light wasn't pulsing and gone when it blazed brightly again.  
  
"From a friend," Cloud said through gritted teeth, closing his eyes as the Ultima Weapon pulsed again.  
  
"Liar," Ajax accused, suddenly sounding dangerously cheerful again. "Your 'friend' never would have given that sword to you willingly. That blade is linked to the Planet itself. It feels its pain." He cocked his head to the side curiously. "And it feels your pain as well, doesn't it, Cloud-san?"  
  
Whatever else Ajax might have wished to say was drowned out by both the pulsing light from the Ultima Weapon and the arrival of another tremor, this one the most violent yet, strong enough to send Cloud reeling into the metal wall, his shoulder armor clanging against the cell door and sending jarring pain running down his arm. He threw one hand up and felt his fingers wrap blindly around the bars of the small cell window, a small act of self-preservation that kept him from tumbling artlessly to the shifting metal floor.  
  
Cloud's world was just one massive nightmare. The glaring light streaming from the Ultima Weapon's blade blinded him, and he desperately wanted to see how Tifa and Rude were holding up, but he didn't dare release his deathgrip on the cell's bars. With his sword still in his hands, it would be dangerous for him to be tumbling all over the place. He could end up impaling himself or one of his friends with the blade for all he knew. It wasn't a perky thought, so he stayed where he was, letting himself be flung against the wall left and right. One of the lights embedded in the ceiling overhead burst, raining down stinging glass shards that sliced into Cloud's bare arms and opened up a thin cut on one of his cheeks. He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter and gritted his teeth to avoid screaming in frustration of his own helplessness.  
  
A particularly violent tremor suddenly seemed to birth itself right underneath his feet, flinging him to the side so roughly that his head slammed against the metal wall. He saws stars for an instant before darkness threatened to consume his vision. His eyes began to close, and it took an extreme force of will to keep them open. Everything was lost in a haze of fuzzy darkness, like a blank TV screen with only the sound turned on, and then his head cleared.  
  
Vincent Valentine was standing before him, and the limp form of Yuffie Kisaragi was in his arms.  
  
"Is she alright?" Cloud tried to ask, but he choked on the heartbeat that had leapt into this throat. All that emerged from his mouth was strangled wheeze, not a very charming sound.  
  
"We have to get out of here," Vincent said, voice sounding more urgent than Cloud had ever heard. "This place is going to fall down around our ears."  
  
Cloud could only nod silently and gesture weakly with the end of the faintly glowing Ultima Weapon, indicating that Vincent should lead the way.  
  
//Shit…Reno would be having a field day if he could see me now…//  
  
It was only as he was stumbling away from the wall that he noticed Ajax and the Faceless Man had disappeared.  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Fa-Li had to run to keep up with Titus' long, determined strides. She had never seen her ex-lover in this condition before, and it made her nervous…even scared her a bit. She was used to Titus being stern and stoic, only showing emotions in random bursts that usually caught her by surprise and left her behind in the dust when they vanished as quickly as they had come. There and then gone, just like that! Sure, Titus was the brooding type, but never like this! This was beyond brooding; the look on Titus' face was severely unstable, maybe even little psychotic. Not a comforting thought.  
  
"Where are we going, Titus?" she asked fearfully as another tremor shook the ground, nearly spilling her onto the rock floor.  
  
"Titus!" she cried when he didn't answer her. The insane urge to scamper up and grab onto his hand suddenly struck her, and she would have followed through with it if she hadn't been so sure Titus would shake her off.  
  
Instead, Fa-Li satisfied herself with grabbing onto the sleeve of his jacket, tugging hard. "Titus! We need to get out of here! This isn't the way out!"  
  
Titus angrily jerked his arm from her grasp, unfazed as the tunnel quivered, spilling rocks onto his broad shoulders and tense back. He seemed impervious, invincible - a man who was so far gone that he could no longer feel pain. That was bad. In all the time she had known him, Fa-Li had never truly seen Titus in complete/total/point-of-no-return pissed-off mode, and she had a feeling that she was seeing a vague glimmer of just how completely unstable Titus could get. It wasn't pretty.  
  
Still, she believed it was her duty to keep her stubborn asshole of an ex in line so she ran and flung her arms around his waist, trying to get him to come to a stop and listen to her. Naturally, he didn't stop, and she ended up being pulled along for the ride, her heeled boots dragging on the rocky floor.  
  
"Titus!" she snarled, tightening her grip and noting the tense muscles of his belly clenching underneath her arms. "This is the way to the prison cells!"  
  
"I know," he said tightly, and his anger was an almost tangible thing in the air.  
  
"If you know then why do you insist on-" Fa-Li's voice trailed off when Titus' destination suddenly came into view. Her arms slipped from around his waist as he strode up to the plain metal door, his hand reaching for the circular handle.  
  
"Titus!" she gasped. "You can't! This is-"  
  
Flinging the door open in one swift, angry motion, Titus suddenly spun and gripped her shoulders hard enough to bruise, the look in his green eyes stopping the words in her throat.   
  
"Don't follow me," he said coldly before whirling away and disappearing through the door and the green mists within.  
  
And for once, Fa-Li did as she was told, easing her frazzled nerves by pacing back and forth in front of the gaping door, arms covering her head to avoid being brained by falling rocks. The ground was still trembling. Oh yeah, the Burrower was one PO'd bastard right now. But why? *Why*??!!  
  
Titus reappeared in the doorway, the limp form of President Reeve of Neo-Shinra flung over one shoulder. The man looked lifeless. Without even looking at her, Titus kept on striding down the tunnel, heading deeper into the earth. Fa-Li, of course, followed him, talking nervously.  
  
"What are you doing, Titus? You know, you don't have permission to touch the prisoners anymore. Oh! Are you going to sacrifice him to the Hungry One? It just might calm his fury! Is that what you're going to do, Titus? Huh?"  
  
"No," Titus suddenly snapped, voice low and cold. "This man will not be a sacrifice. He's not even dead, when he very well should be."  
  
Shocked, Fa-Li stared at the dark head of President Reeve. His hair had tumbled all around his face and his body looked weak and drained, but when she studied him more closely, she noticed that his fingers were twitching ever so slightly, a small semblance of life still remaining. Her hand reached out, as if to touch that black hair, and sure enough, she felt the heat from his fever, pulsing deep within his skull. He *was* alive. Insane, maybe. But alive, surely. She had seen other prisoners perish under less harsh conditions than this.  
  
Another tremor shook the tunnel, but this time Fa-Li paid it no heed. "How can he still be alive?" she wondered softly.  
  
"His will to live is considerable," Titus said flatly as he carried the President's weight like it was nothing. "But in the end, it won't be enough to save him."  
  
"What are you going to do with him?"  
  
"Dump him into the Lifestream."  
  
Fa-Li's eyes widened slightly. "But…why? He'll get Mako-poisoning, you know. The Lifestream is never quiet."  
  
Titus casually batted away a plummeting rock that was on a collision course with his head. "I think Mako poisoning is a more merciful fate than what awaits him otherwise. His usefulness has already passed, and the *Master* will want to get rid of all prisoners quickly. Especially now that he, in all his 'infinite' wisdom, has *apparently* done something to enrage the Burrower. It's all been shot to hell. Things can't get any worse. The Master has…desecrated what little remained of our religion." By the time he was finished, Titus was trembling with barely checked fury.  
  
"Do you still think of him as your Master, Titus?" Fa-Li asked quietly, walking slightly behind him, not able to summon the courage to travel at his side, especially when he was…like this.  
  
Titus didn't reply to her question, and they continued walking deeper down into the tunnel, deeper into the earth, down to a place somewhere between heaven and hell.  
  
~owari chapter 26  
  
Author's Notes (again): Well, there it is, minna-san! Long enough for ya? ^_^ Oh yeah, and I have a little announcement to make! If you want to know what's going on with "Sink" and all my other fiction as well as my site, I now have a mailing list! Hurray for me! If you want to join go to:  
  
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/catalina_updates/join  
  
If that link doesn't work, then e-mail me, and I'll try to send you an invite. Just be warned that I'm still trying to figure out the bugs of this entire thing! O_O And a big THANKS to all those people who sent me e-mail urging me (in so many nice words) to get my lazy butt in gear!  
  
Next…  
Sink to the Bottom With You  
Chapter 27  
The Ones Left Behind  



	29. The Ones Left Behind

"Sink to the Bottom With You"  
Chapter 27: The Ones Left Behind  
"Well, there goes the neighborhood." Reno Akuma Mitsuru  
  
Montana had never liked riding in trains. He always thought they were mindless, soulless hunks of metal, boring as hell because they could never go where they wanted to, never could veer off of their tracks, off their courses. He saw no point in such an existence, not even when he was a child. When all the other little tikes in the countryside flocked to see a train pass through on a routine trade route, Montana never went with them. He never had a toy train or played "choo-choo" like the others did. They all thought he was weird so they isolated him, never knowing that the little boy who didn't like trains would grow up into quite the bounty hunter. Never knowing that one day that little boy would come back all big and strong. Montana had put a bullet in every last one of their surprised faces and only regretted not having the guts to do it when he was five years old.  
  
And now here he was, riding the only operational train in the city of Midgar, the one that traveled through Sector Five. He was not a happy camper, but he knew that it would do him no good to complain to his companion.  
  
Jezebel sat calmly in the seat across from him, hands folded in her lap with her legs crossed in a most feminine fashion. Montana almost laughed at that. Jezebel was many things, but lady-like wasn't one of them. The positioning of her limbs was, of course, meant to deceive any of the train operators who might have peeked into the car that only held one tall, lanky man and a slender, relatively pretty woman. Nobody trusted anyone else these days. Smart people.  
  
"You know," Montana said conversationally, slouching down in his seat so that his long legs were nearly stretched across half the floor. "It's going to be one wet walk on the way to Kalm."  
  
"A little rain never hurt anyone," Jezebel told him flatly, studying the tips of her boots. "Besides, you're going to be the only one going to Kalm."  
  
Montana wasn't surprised, but he raised an eyebrow anyways, just because he wanted to. "You don't say? Me alone against two AVALANCHE members? Aren't you worried that I might die?"  
  
"One AVALANCHE member," Jezebel corrected. "The other is a Turk named Reno Akuma Mitsuru. Get it straight, or you will make yourself look even stupider than you already are."  
  
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Montana said dryly as he lifted one of his bare feet and studied the dirt and other nameless grime that had collected on the sole of it. "It's good to know that you think so highly of me."  
  
Jezebel ignored his sarcasm. "Do you have your back-up on standby?"  
  
Montana was already used to Jezebel's condescending attitude, but he was still offended that she would think him so idiotic that he would forget to summon his "back-up". "Of *course* I have it," he snapped, a flicker of anger showing in his dead green eyes. "You really do think I'm stupid, don't you?"  
  
"Stupider than I am."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean? *You* think you're stupid?"  
  
Empty brown eyes stared at him. "I had my moments of youthful idiocy, but that was a long time ago."  
  
Montana frowned. It wasn't like Jezebel to reveal so much about her past. In all the years he had worked alongside her, she had never breathed a word to him about whatever dark secrets lie buried within her. The one thing he could assume was that she had lived in the slums for a long period of time, long enough to acquire a fairly heavy accent that she either couldn't or didn't want to get rid of.  
  
"Well, someone's talkative today," Montana said with a grin.  
  
"I am unstable," Jezebel corrected. "Just like our underground lair, which is in the process of collapsing as we speak."  
  
"Sucks to be them."  
  
Jezebel just stared at him, as if she couldn't decide whether to be angry or apathetic. "The Master believes the Hungry One is enraged because he smells a traitor amongst his worshippers."  
  
"You mean Titus?" Montana asked immediately. The scar on his left cheek began to itch, like there were ants crawling up and down the red, angry tissue.  
  
"And many others," Jezebel added, folding her arms across her ample chest. "The Master was wrong to bring Titus back into the faction, even for so brief a period. The worshippers never forget their High Priest, no matter where he goes. Ajax is a poor substitute for Titus, no matter how powerful the little bugger may be."  
  
Montana's jaw clenched. "You're going to kill Titus, aren't you?" he asked in a tight, angry voice.  
  
"Those are my orders," Jezebel said coldly, her accent sharpening along with her voice. "And I'm to kill the woman as well, and all others that may have thrown in with Titus. The Master has predicted that all survivors will use the Junon exit to escape from underground. I am to intercept and kill both Titus and the woman called Fa-Li."  
  
Montana leaned forward, his scar burning something awful. "Kill the woman, but leave Titus for me!"  
  
Jezebel's full, sensuous lips curled into a dark smile. "Trying to take my kill from me, Montana? Go for it. See if you can. But first you need to take care of your business in Kalm, then you can follow me to Junon."  
  
Montana gritted his teeth, but he nodded. "I understand."  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
"'ey, Wed? Ou aunt wum bif herky?"  
  
"No, Reno," Red replied calmly, trying to focus his attention on the flickering television screen. "I don't want any beef jerky, but thank you for asking."  
  
"Oor elcum. Shuit oorhelf." With that said, Reno ripped off another piece of jerky with his teeth, chomping noisily and happily on it.  
  
It took a second for Red's normally sharp mind to translate from Reno-babble into normal, everyday English: You're welcome. Suit yourself.   
  
With an internal sigh that didn't disturb his calm exterior, Red tried his best to drown out the sounds of Reno slobbering and tearing gleefully on his third or fourth piece of beef jerky as the Turk's right hand sank into the bag of chips with a crinkling noise that seemed needlessly loud. Everything about Reno, Red decided, was needlessly loud. From the bright red hair that virtually blazed with the very essence of the color to the sloppy style of dress that screamed rebellion and nonconformity.   
  
Loud. Needlessly so.  
  
But, Red admitted to himself, Reno just wouldn't be Reno without that screeching loudness. Red knew that he was going to meet people from all walks of life during his long, long, long lifetime on the Planet, if Fate didn't sever him from his path unexpectedly. He knew that he would just have to accept Reno and all of Reno's flaws, or he would never be able to deal when people ten times as bad as Reno came along.  
  
From his seat on the couch, Reno let out an earth-shaking burp, and Red decided there would never be a person ten times as bad as Reno. This was as bad as it could possibly get.  
  
Thoughts put aside, Red tried in vain to return his attention to flickering television screen and was just starting to come to a conclusion that there was NO plotline in the program they were watching when Reno suddenly flipped the channel. A large purple dinosaur with a green belly was dancing and singing on the television screen. Rather frightening thing, actually.  
  
"What are you doing?" Red grumbled. "I was watching the previous show."  
  
"That one was boring," Reno said cheerfully. "Don't you think this one is much more entertaining?"  
  
Red wrinkled his nose. "I don't like large purple dinosaurs serenading me and telling me they love me."  
  
"Barney has lots of love to give," Reno said, and Red couldn't tell whether he was joking or not. "If Barney don't love you, then no one will."  
  
"Turn the channel back."  
  
"No."  
  
"Turn it back."  
  
"Make me."  
  
Red started to get to his feet, stretching his muscles like a cat that had just awakened. "Well," he said calmly. "I suppose I'll just go take a nap upstairs."  
  
"Fine!" Reno exclaimed in frustration, begrudgingly switching the channel back. "There ya go, dumb mutt."  
  
"Many thanks," Red replied as he resettled himself on the hardwood floor, eyes once again flicking to the television screen, where a posse of young girls in sailor outfits were running around aimlessly on the screen. No plot in sight so far, but it was the lesser of two evils. [1]  
  
Five seconds into the program, Reno suddenly announced, "I'm bored."  
  
"Go eat something," Red suggested. Normally, he wouldn't encourage Reno to devour someone else's food, but he had a feeling that a bored Reno was not going to be good thing.  
  
"I'm not hungry anymore," Reno snapped. "I just finished cleaning out the pantry anyways. Goddamn it! It's almost ten o'clock. Where the HELL are those guys?"  
  
The abrupt change of subject left Red's mind reeling, but he managed to reply, "Don't worry about them, Reno. They'll make it back okay."  
  
//I hope so//  
  
"So you say, but I know you're worried sick, too."  
  
"So what if I am? Someone has to pretend to be the calm one here."  
  
Reno snorted. "For your information, I'm perfectly calm right now."  
  
The lights suddenly flickered, then went out completely, plunging the room into darkness and silence.  
  
"Okay, maybe not so calm," Reno amended, his voice drifting out of the blackness.  
  
Red lifted himself easily to his feet, ears flicking back and forth as he tried to detect any usual sounds. He had nearly perfect night vision, but ever since he lost one of his eyes, he learned to use his other senses more often. However, he could detect nothing out of the ordinary in the house. The only sound was the rain pattering against the sides of the bar and thunder rumbling in the distance. He could smell junk food, rain, and a deep musk that had to be Reno's personal scent, but other than that, nothing.  
  
"What is it?" Reno asked, rising from his seat on the couch and stumbling over to Red.  
  
"Probably just a power outage," Red replied calmly. "It's to be expected in a thunderstorm like this one. I am just surprised it didn't happen sooner."  
  
"No power?" Reno demanded. "Well, there goes the neighborhood."  
  
Red shook his head. "All we need to do is go and activate the back-up generator. The switch is on the main circuit breaker."  
  
"Great," Reno grumbled.   
  
Red looked up at the Turk. Aquamarine eyes glowed faintly in the darkness with a radiance that could only be attributed with exposure to Mako. Rude and Elena's eyes didn't glow like that, and Red made a note to ask Reno about it later. But more interesting was the fact that the Turk seemed to actually be focusing on Red, even in the unbroken darkness.  
  
"How good is your night vision?" he asked Reno.  
  
The redhead shrugged his narrow shoulders. "If it's warm or it moves, then I'll know it's there."  
  
//He senses things rather than sees them. Good in some cases, bad in others, but I guess it'll do//  
  
"Can I trust you to follow me without stepping on me or running into things?" Red asked.  
  
One corner of Reno's mouth curled into a smile. "Aye, aye, Captain. Lead the way."  
  
Not bothering to point out that "Captain" was Cid's title, Red turned and padded out of the living room. Reno followed him without any mishaps. In the main room of the bar, the two of them slunk out from behind the bar counter. Red cast an apprehensive glance into the main bar area, but there was nothing to be suspicious about. No faces peering in from the windows. The front door was closed. None of the chairs had been messed with. He would have liked to sniff around the place, but he thought that if he stopped suddenly, Reno would end up stepping all over him.  
  
Bypassing the stairs quietly, Red led the way into the hallway running alongside the stairwell. The storage rooms and the garage were in this back area of the bar. Though Red had only visited Cloud and Tifa a couple of times during the past year, he had pretty much committed the layout of the bar to memory, and within a few moments, he and Reno were heading through a door and into a dark, windowless room that smelled strongly of electricity and rainwater. Dangerous mixture.  
  
Red glanced around the room in search of the breaker box until he realized that Reno was still hovering in the doorway, aquamarine eyes darting around nervously.  
  
"What is it?" Reno asked.  
  
Reno wrinkled his nose distastefully. "It smells like snakes in here."  
  
*That* piqued Red's interest. "Really? I don't smell snakes, but…" He sniffed the air "…there is an odd scent in the room. I think your fear is making you smell things."  
  
Reno suddenly wrapped his arms around himself, as if he was cold. He didn't even snap at Red for saying that he was afraid. "I'm not talking about *snakes*. I mean *the* snake. That giant motherf***er we fought in Midgar."  
  
The minute Reno's words hit home, Red knew that he was telling the truth. The room *did* smell like that snake, but it was a slightly different scent, and that was why he had failed to recognize it immediately. Red's golden eye narrowed, and he turned his head around quickly, scanning the room.  
  
Then he saw the breaker box. Or what was left of the breaker box. The entire thing had been ripped out of the wall, exposing tons of wires that had been sliced through and through. Well, no backup power for them. Red's hackles rose, and he was just about to turn and report his findings to Reno when he noticed something else.  
  
Cloud and Tifa had a trapdoor built in this room so that the bar's occupants could escape in case there was some sort of emergency. They would end up under the bar, and from there it was a small thing to simply walk amongst the stilts and end up beside the building. What Red saw was the trapdoor gaping open, a swollen tide of rainwater lapping hungrily at the edges, seeking entrance into the room. That was why the smell of water had been so strong.  
  
All his senses were on high alert as he padded his way back to Reno, sending out a brief thanks that the Turk couldn't see what was in the room. "What is it?" Reno asked sharply. Apparently, he had sensed that something was wrong.  
  
"I think there's an intruder in the house," Red answered matter-of-factly. "They cut the power and probably the phone lines as well."  
  
Reno's eyes widened. "But how the HELL did they get into the bar in the first place?"  
  
"Through the trapdoor leading into this room. I didn't think anyone was crazy enough to swim underneath the bar just to get to the door."  
  
Reno scowled, glancing nervously over his shoulders. "Great. So we're dealing with a psycho here? I don't even have any weapons on me!"  
  
Red stared up at him incredulously. "You're kidding me."  
  
The look on Reno's face darkened even more. "I'm not kidding! My nightstick's in the sewers, and my gun is upstairs in my room!"  
  
"You know," Red snarled as he brushed past the Turk's legs. "I know you've been under a lot of stress lately, Reno, but I would think that the leader of the Turks would be a lot more responsible. Let's go up and get your gun."  
  
Amazingly enough, Reno didn't say a word, but Red could feel the Turk's anger in a simmering wave behind him as the two walked carefully into the main room of the bar once again. Red was aware of the fact that the intruder might have just come through the trapdoor, severed the power, and then exited back through the trapdoor. He certainly wasn't seeing or smelling anything out of the ordinary, but he knew better than rush to conclusions. After all, he had failed to detect the scent of the Running Man when he had gone to investigate Midgar. If all these strangers were coming from the same group, it was logical to assume that one of their distinguishing characteristics may be lack of scent.  
  
He didn't strive to find consolation in his assumptions, though, and Red made sure the main room of the bar was clear of intruders before turning to lead the way up the stairs. Reno followed him, the scent of his anger, fear, and frustration a unique blend that hung in the air like a jungle musk, thick and heavy. Though Reno might not be able to admit that he was afraid, his body was doing the job for him. If Red had been hunting a prey with that scent surrounding it, he would have known instantly it was going to be an easy kill. He just hoped the intruders wouldn't look at Reno in the same predatory fashion.  
  
The two climbed the dark stairs in silence, Red maneuvering effortlessly through the inky black, Reno gripping the handrail with sweaty palms as he tried not to stumble. When they finally reached the top of the stairs and strode into the long, upstairs hallway, Red barely took two steps before he froze dead in his tracks, fur standing on end. His lip curled in a snarl as adrenaline coursed through his body.  
  
Standing in the middle of the hallway, about ten feet away from them, was a figure shrouded in shadows. It was dressed in what appeared to be a black jumpsuit, baggy and seamless. It was holding a submachine gun in one of its fleshly pink hands. And it had no face.  
  
"Faceless Man," Red growled, his gravelly voice loud in the stillness of the hallway.  
  
Behind him, Reno froze. "Faceless Man? Where?" he hissed.  
  
//He can't see it// Red realized. //It's not moving, and it's not warm//  
  
"It's ten feet down the hallway from us," Red rapped out, keeping his eye on their motionless opponent. "It's not moving, but it's standing between us and your room."  
  
"In other words, me and my weapons," Reno uttered harshly, the scent of his rage starting to fill the hallway. "Well, what the hell do we do now?"  
  
Red glared at the unmoving figure of the Faceless Man. It looked like a mannequin that had crash-landed in the middle of the hallway, but judging from Vincent and Yuffie's horrific tales, the fleshly creature brandished a danger factor more akin to a sleeping lion. There was enough room on either side of the thing to slink past it by hugging the wall, but Red knew that they ran the risk of being grabbed if the creature were to suddenly animate itself. And according to Vincent and Yuffie, these things possessed unreal strength and incredible endurance. But they were at a standstill until one side decided to act. It didn't look like the Faceless Man was planning on moving anytime soon. Of course, it could just be playing dead and waiting for them to come into grabbing reach. But for some reason, Red didn't think so. He sensed a horrible *stillness* within the creature, the absence of life and awareness, like a machine that had been shut down. Or something that had been dead for a long, long time.  
  
"I don't think it'll grab us if we try and walk by it," Red ventured, "but I don't think creature possesses the sort of wits needed to cut electrical wires…"  
  
"What the hell are you trying to say?" Reno demanded, sounding suitably annoyed.  
  
"I think its master must be close by," Red said in a low voice.  
  
"And just waiting to send this thing after us," Reno finished with a bitter flourish. "Just f***ing great, but I NEED my gun."  
  
Red was about to reply when he suddenly felt a strange energy surge through the air, blazing past him and making his fur stand on end. A strange scent suddenly assaulted his nostrils, unlike anything he had ever smelled before. It seared his nasal cavity, and for an instant, he could taste it in the back of his throat. He dimly heard Reno coughing behind him and knew that the human Turk had picked up on the strange energy as well.  
  
A figure in white suddenly emerged from the room at the end of the hall, hands shoved deep in the pockets of his baggy white pants. His buttonless jacket was open in the front, flaring at his sides as he moved. He was bare-footed and made almost no sound at all as he walked. A pair of dark green eyes was set deep in his face, glittering as lightening illuminated the thick blackness of the hallway. He moved easily - like a predator - until he was standing about five feet behind the Faceless Man.  
  
Silence hung thickly in the air for a moment until Red demanded, "Are you the one that took Reeve and Yuffie?" Behind him, Reno inhaled sharply.  
  
The man smiled, looking amused. He had a scar on his left cheek. "Nope, you got the wrong guy. I'm more of an assassin than a bounty hunter, I suppose. When I get sent out, it's usually to kill someone."  
  
Silence, except for the soundless singing of the tension between the two groups.  
  
"I think you know what happens next," the green-eyed man said in a good-natured tone as he leaned casually against the wall.  
  
"Go to hell," Reno suddenly hissed.  
  
The man lifted an eyebrow. "You know, pal, you gotta big mouth. I can taste your fear in the back of my throat. It stinks up the air."  
  
"Shut up!" Reno yelled at him.  
  
"This is boring," the stranger lamented with a sigh. "It's going to be too easy to kill you guys." He pushed away from the wall, absently running a hand through his spiky brown hair. "That's why I'm leaving my little friend to do it. I have more pressing matters to take care of."  
  
With one last smile, the man turned and started to saunter back down the dark hallway, like he hadn't a care in the world. His indifference infuriated Red, and for a second, the lion-like best nearly gave into impulse and went springing after the tall man. In fact, the only thing that stopped him was a sudden birth of motion as the Faceless Man started to stir. Red sensed a dark awareness burst into its mind, dead and alive at the same time, and he forgot all about watching the retreating back of the green-eyed man.  
  
Limbs now fully animated, the Faceless Man started to raise its machine gun, cradling in it both hands. That was all Red needed to see. He had no intention of exchanging bullets and blows in such a narrow, cramped space. His limbs tensed as he started to pivot around.  
  
"Shit!" Reno suddenly cried. Even though he was nearly blind in the darkness, the Turk had apparently sensed the Faceless Man's movement as well.  
  
Then the two of them were running full speed towards the stairwell, Red doing his best not to get tangled up in Reno's legs. They barely made it to safety in time; a stream of bullets ripped through the wall just as they were turning the corner. The air screamed as a couple of ricochets whizzed past Red's ears.  
  
Though luck had blessed them with a narrow escape, the fickle creature decided that it did not wish to support them any longer. In front of him, Red saw Reno suddenly lose his balance, boots fighting for purchase on the shadowy stairs before he began to tumble artlessly down the staircase, curling instinctively into a ball with his arms up trying to shield his head. Red couldn't help but feel sympathy for Reno as he heard that human body with its tender skin and fragile bones slamming up against the wall and the edges of each stair. But not once did Reno cry out, and Red's respect for the Turk climbed slightly. The AVALANCHE member ran down the stairs without any major mishaps, as he had four legs and therefore more leverage than the unfortunate Reno.  
  
"Shit, that hurt like a bitch," Reno groaned from where he was lying in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the stairs. His face contorted in pain as he tried to get his bruised and battered limbs to move him into a sitting position. Red bounded up next to him and was about to suggest that they move to a safer location when he suddenly sensed movement on the top of the stairs and heard the sound of a trigger being squeezed.  
  
"Move, Reno!" he cried, darting off the side and into the main room of the bar, weaving into the maze of tables and chairs.  
  
Reno didn't ask questions. Though he still wasn't sure he had all of his wits about him (his head was hurting something awful), he rolled blindly to the right - left? - just as he heard the sound of bullets being fired from a machine gun. Slivers of torn wood erupted from the floor and hit his legs before he managed to roll out of their reach. He only stopped rolling across the floor when he felt his bruised back collide with cold metal. The refrigerator. He had rolled behind the bar.  
  
Instinct kicked in, and Reno tried to wrestle to feet, only to fall flat on his ass twice in a row due to the fact that the bar was dancing in circles around his head. Finally, he gritted his teeth and took a hold of the refrigerator's handle, using that as a crutch while he hauled himself to his feet. Nausea washed over him in a short, powerful wave, but the sounds of gunfire surprisingly close by brought his attention back to the situation at hand.  
  
Ignoring his bruised legs, he looked towards the main bar area and saw that the Faceless Man was firing on Red with its machine gun. Chairs and tables were obliterated into a thousand wooden shards by the steady stream of bullets, but Red appeared unharmed so far. He kept using tables for cover as he came closer and closer to the Faceless Man. When the lion-like beast arrived within a certain range, the Faceless Man gave up firing and simply lifted the gun above its head, bringing it smashing down on the table Red was hiding under. The piece of furniture split in two, but Red managed to get out in time, narrowly avoiding being impaled by a jagged edge of wood.  
  
Clenching his fists in rage, Reno stumbled out from behind the bar. He didn't have any weapons, but he had learned long ago that anger, when used correctly, could be the most deadly weapon of all. And he was plenty pissed off at the moment. In its pursuit of Red, the Faceless Man had knocked down a couple of chairs. Reno grabbed the closest one off the floor and flung it at the back of the creature with all his might.  
  
Without even turning around, the Faceless Man sidestepped the flying chair and brought the butt of the machine gun down on the next table, forcing Red out of his new hiding place. Letting out a scream of frustration, Reno grabbed another fallen chair and ran up behind the Faceless Man, raising the chair above his head and bringing it down as hard as he could.  
  
It was a powerful blow that would have knocked a regular human unconscious, if not killed them. But the Faceless Man was far too fast to fall for such tricks. Reno only saw a shadowy pink and black blur as the creature whirled and knocked the chair out of his hands, leaving his fingers tingling painfully afterwards. Then the thing slammed its shoulder into Reno's chest.  
  
It felt like he'd been hit with a battering ram. The breath left his lungs in a great whoosh, and the force of the creature's blow sent him flying backwards, where he slammed into the stools surrounding the bar area, like the pieces of furniture were bowling pins and he was Reno the Human Bowling Ball.  
  
"Reno!" he dimly heard Red cry. "Are you alright, Reno?!"  
  
The Turk managed to peel himself off of the floor in time to groan, "Yeah, I think so." At least, that was what he thought he said. His ears were ringing too loudly for him to be completely sure.  
  
"You can't fight it like you are now!" Red called to him, changing tactics and leaping from tabletop to tabletop with the Faceless Man in hot pursuit. The thing smashed its gun through the wooden furniture as it went along. There wasn't going to shit left over when it was done.  
  
Reno lurched to his feet, feeling helpless as he watched Red facing down the creature all by himself. "Well, what the hell do you want me to do?!" he demanded in frustration. "I can't go after my gun! That guy's probably still up there, despite what he said!"  
  
In an act of amazing dexterity, Red suddenly pivoted and lunged straight at the Faceless Man, claws raking across its nonexistent face and leaving streams of dark blood flowing down its flesh. He leapt off before the creature could bring its gun to bear on him, calling out to Reno.  
  
"Go to Vincent's room! It's right across from the stairwell!"  
  
//Less chances of getting caught// Reno realized.  
  
His eyes only lingered for a moment longer on the warring figures of Red and the Faceless Man before he took off towards the stairs in a mad dash, plunging into the pitch-black stairwell. He didn't know if adrenaline had sharpened his senses or if he had committed the stairs to memory, but he managed to make it to the top without stumbling even once. But Reno didn't take time to pat himself on the back. One running stride saw him right in front of Vincent's bedroom door, which he barreled through so quickly that the doorknob knocked a huge chunk out of the wall.  
  
Reno hesitated in the doorway, his heart pounding in his chest and his breath whooshing painfully in and out of his lungs. Vincent's room was arranged just like the other guest rooms, but for a moment, Reno imagined that it was colder, darker than any other room in the bar, as if the gunslinger had left a residue of his presence behind him like the lingering musk of cologne.  
  
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Reno searched feverishly for a weapon of some kind and was rewarded when a sudden flash of lightening illuminated the ominous form of the Death Penalty leaning against the wall. Vincent had wisely chosen to take the small but powerful Outsider with him into battle instead of the large but more powerful Death Penalty, though Reno knew how much it had probably cost Valentine to leave his most powerful weapon behind like a piece of unwanted garbage. Good, trusty guns were hard to come by.  
  
Racing over to the rifle, Reno wrapped his hands around the smooth metal and tried to lift it from the floor, a surprised grunt issuing from his mouth when the gun tried to drag him back down to the floor with it. The thing was freaking *heavy*!!  
  
//How the HELL does Valentine manage to fire this son of a bitch one-handed?! Guess it pays to be a freak…//  
  
But as freaky as Vincent may have been, Reno had to tip his hat to the guy. This gun wasn't made to be used by just anyone. Even if he could manage to lift and fire the gun, he would be lucky if he managed to hit *anything*. He would be even luckier if he didn't shoot his own foot off.  
  
"F*** it," he swore, letting the Death Penalty fall to the floor again.  
  
Fighting to ignore the sounds of battle raging downstairs in the bar, Reno ran around the room yanking open drawers and spilling their contents onto the floor. Not that there was much of anything in the first place, being that Vincent had lost most of his clothes to Mother Nature when he and Yuffie's chocobos had been trapped out in the rain with their packs still on the birds' backs.  
  
"Come ON!!" he screamed in frustration, shoving his hair out of his eyes. "There has to be a goddamn gun around here somewhere!"  
  
Reno dropped onto his stomach next to the bed and yanked the end of the trailing bedspread up off the floor. Then he grinned. Pay dirt, baby. There were at least six guns - all different shapes and sizes - hidden underneath the bed, glittering with fiendish anticipation whenever lightening flashed outside the window. The gun closest to him was some kind of shotgun with a sawed-off barrel. Reno didn't want to take it. Shotguns were great when you didn't care what mess you made, but he didn't want to risk being too messy when Red was down there as well. As a general rule, it wasn't good when you went around blowing away allies as well as enemies.  
  
"What a dignified position that is," an amused voice suddenly commented.  
  
Reno jerked in surprise and tried to pull out from under the bed, slamming the back of his head against the framework in the process. He let out a choice phrase and, without looking, grabbed the closest and smallest gun within reach, raising and pointing it towards the door at the same time his head cleared the top of the bed.  
  
The green-eyed man was leaning in the doorway of Vincent's room, just as casual as you please, an amused smiled on his face as he gazed at Reno's choice of weapons. The Turk resisted the urge to scream in frustration. Not only had the bad guy caught him with his head under the bed and his ass up in the air, but Reno had also managed to pick the wimpiest, puniest gun of the bunch. The thing was white-blue, barely bigger than the palm of his hand. It looked like a goddamn water gun. It didn't even have any slots for materia.  
  
//What a piece of crap! Elena's nephew has a Super Soaker bigger than this thing!//  
  
"Silver Rifle," the man suddenly stated, cocking his head to the side as he stared at the gun. "From the Temple of the Ancients, right?"  
  
"You bet your ass it is," Reno snapped with as much confidence as he could muster. He had no idea where the hell the gun was from. He didn't even know if it was loaded.  
  
"You have no idea where the hell that gun is from, do you?" the man asked with a smile, flashing white teeth in the shadows.  
  
Reno rose slowly to his feet, puny-ass gun in his hand (using two hands for such a wimpy gun was just stupid) as he approached the man, his aim never wavering.  
  
"Get out of the way or I blow your head off," Reno threatened coldly, stopping just out of arms reach.  
  
Humor shone in the man's deep green eyes, and Reno suddenly realized that the eyes had a glow to them that he hadn't noticed before. It wasn't Mako luminescence, but it was something similar. Maybe it was due to the eyes being such a dark green that didn't make them bright like his, Cloud's, or Vincent's…  
  
A crash erupted from downstairs, followed by a massive surge of elemental energy and a cold, icy wind.  
  
"Looks like your furry friend is summoning Shiva," the man commented. "She won't be able to help, though. Nothing less than Knights of the Round can kill one of those creatures."  
  
"We'll just have to see about that," Reno deadpanned. "Move or I shoot. I'm not gonna tell you again."  
  
The green-eyed man flashed another one of those maddeningly casual smiles. "I know you're the kind of guy that doesn't bluff, Reno."  
  
The Turk frowned. "Hey, if you know my name, you might as well tell me yours."  
  
The man had the grace to look confused for a moment before he shrugged and said, "Name's Montana."  
  
Reno smiled. "Nice to meet ya, Montana."  
  
He fired the gun, leaping forward at the same time. As he had expected, Montana dodged the bullet, but he was still quick enough to grab Reno around the waist when the Turk was still airborne. However, Reno had been expecting that as well. Grabbing the arm that was flung across his waist, he used it as leverage to fling his body weight forward. Surprised and off-balance, Montana's grip fell away as Reno tumbled over the restraining arm and hit the floor headfirst, with barely enough time to shield his face. Reno turned the fall into a roll, and for the second time in five minutes, he was tumbling down the stairs.  
  
Reno had always known he was a magnet for pain, but this was getting ridiculous.  
  
This time around he was fortunate enough to end up on his butt instead of in a crumpled pile at the bottom of the stairs. He had somehow managed to hold onto the Silver Rifle during his fall. In that one moment that he sat there waiting for the room to stop spinning, he felt an approaching heat from behind him and instinctively rolled to the side, further into the bar area. A stream of white-hot fire came bursting out of the stairwell, consuming the wooden stairs with hungry flames and lighting up the bar area as bright as day.  
  
//Whoa// Red thought as he wrestled to his feet. //Guess that Montana guy wasn't happy I got away// Squinting against the brightness of the flames, he could see nothing of his attacker. Well, it didn't look like Reno was going to be parading upstairs for the rest of the night. It also didn't seem like Montana was going to be coming downstairs, either. Double-edged sword. Yippy.  
  
Considering the Montana threat neutralized, Reno whirled to see that the bar had been converted into a war zone. Bullet holes riddled the walls and even the ceiling of bar. A section of one wall had been blown away, icicles clinging to the sides of the jagged hole and already withering away under the steady onslaught of rain pouring into the bar proper. Red XIII was standing amongst shattered tables and melting patches of ice, panting heavily with one of his forelegs drawn up tight against his body. There was a shallow cut running along his right flank, clotting the fur around it with blood. About five feet away from him, the Faceless Man (sans machine gun) was struggling to get its feet free of the ice that had frozen them to the floor. Its pink skin and dark clothes glistened in the firelight.  
  
If Reno had been more honorable, he would have had qualms about shooting a semi-helpless opponent in cold blood, but the Turk believed firmly that you should kick people why they were down if it would prevent them from getting back up. He coldly raised the Silver Rifle and sighted along the barrel, making sure his aim was perfect before he pulled the trigger. The bullet was on a collision course with the Faceless Man's head, but just as Reno was about to cry victory, the creature jerked its body to the side, its feet coming free of the ice. The bullet whizzed past its head harmlessly.  
  
"Close range!" Red suddenly gasped. "Fight it…at…close range!"  
  
"You've got to be kidding me!" Reno exclaimed as the Faceless Man began to advance towards him, completely oblivious to the wounded Red practically lying at its feet. Reno realized that Vincent and Yuffie had been right; these things were smart and stupid at the same time. If its orders were to kill them, it should have taken out the helpless Red before turning its attention to the armed Reno. Its intelligence seemed to be minimal; it attacked what it perceived to be the greatest threat at the moment. And at the moment, Reno was the lucky guy.  
  
He fired off two more shots at the thing as it approached, but it managed to evade them both with lightening-fast movements. Reno gritted his teeth in frustration. He knew the Silver Rifle probably didn't have an infinite supply of ammo; he couldn't keep wasting bullets like this.  
  
//Damn…looks like I'm gonna have to come up with a plan//  
  
However, the Faceless Man put Reno's scheming on hold when it seized the opportunity and raced forward faster than Reno thought possible for a creature that had no eyes. Before he could pull the trigger, the thing had wrapped both hands around his throat and lifted him off the floor, feet dangling. The creature began to squeeze ruthlessly, aiming to strangle the life out of him. Reno clawed at the thing's rubbery hands, making choking noises as he fought vainly to draw air into his lungs. Already his head was starting to feel light, the room darker and warmer. He dimly heard Red yelling something about claws, but the words made no sense to him. All he could see was darkness eating away at the corners of his vision. All he knew was that pink fleshy head with only indentations for eyes, nose, and mouth staring up at him as its hands choked the life out of the puny little human.  
  
//He's gonna kill me// Reno thought dumbly. //What a bastard he is. Someone should kick him or something//  
  
Reno's foot suddenly shot up on its own accord, slamming into the Faceless Man's chin with more strength than Reno thought he had left in his body. The creature's head snapped backwards like the head of rag doll, and when it came flopping back, the Silver Rifle sent a metal slug right through the middle of its forehead.  
  
The next thing Reno knew, he was lying on the floor of bar, staring up at the bullet-ridden ceiling with the Silver Rifle still clutched tightly in his nerveless fingers. His head was hurting something awful, and every breath he drew into his lungs was pure, beautiful torture. There was something warm, wet, and thick pooling around his arm, and it took him a moment to realize that it was the Faceless Man's blood.  
  
Wrinkling his nose in disgust, Reno forced himself to sit upright and scoot away from the widening pool of blood. His hand had been lying right in the puddle and was now covered with dripping redness, which he promptly wiped on his shirt, leaving a bloody handprint on the white material.  
  
Red limped up to him, fur dyed an even more vibrant red in the hellish light given off by the fires. He sat down next to Reno but didn't say anything. The two sat in silence for what seemed like a long time with the dead body of the Faceless Man inches from them and the Final Heaven bar burning around their ears. Melting ice on the floor mingled with the Faceless Man's blood, making the substance thin and watery. A crashing noise suddenly rang out to their left, but neither of them bothered to look.  
  
"There go the stairs," Red commented quietly.  
  
Reno just nodded, and the silence continued for a few moments before he suddenly announced hoarsely, "You know, I think I owe Vincent and Yuffie an apology."  
  
Red looked at him. "Why is that?"  
  
The Turk gestured to the dead body of the Faceless Man with the hand that was still clutching the Silver Rifle. "I didn't believe that those things even existed, and one nearly killed me."  
  
"Nearly," Red emphasized. "We're not dead yet."  
  
"Right," Reno said in his new raspy voice. He knew what was coming next.  
  
"We need to get out of here," Red announced sadly as he looked around the bar. "This place is finished. Poor Tifa."  
  
Reno rolled his aquamarine eyes. "Poor Tifa? Poor us. We've got to find a way to get to Midgar with all these floodwaters. We also need to find a way to get back upstairs to get everyone's crap out of the bedrooms."  
  
"Any ideas?" Red asked.  
  
Reno shrugged his narrow shoulders. "Well, we still have the Tiny Bronco, the helicopter, and the Highwind parked out back. The ground's higher there so the flood hasn't reached them yet. I think we should use the Highwind."  
  
Red stared at him, golden eye positively glowing in the firelight. "Reno, you can't fly the Highwind in a thunderstorm."  
  
"Bet your furry ass I can," Reno snapped. "I've flown helicopters before. How difficult can it be? Besides, the Highwind is safer than both the Tiny Bronco and the chopper."  
  
//It's also a bigger target for lightening// he added silently.  
  
Red sighed. "Very well. You go ready the Highwind. I'll go around the back of the bar and climb through one of the bedroom windows so I can get everyone's things."  
  
Reno looked at him skeptically. "With that leg?"  
  
Red slowly lowered his foreleg to the floor, testing it before drawing it back against his body. "I used a Cure 3 on it; it should be fine in a little while."  
  
"Fine. I guess we'd better hop to it then."  
  
Red nodded and limped off, heading towards the massive hole in the side of the bar. Reno sat on his bum for a little while longer, staring at the war zone that he used to call the Final Heaven bar.  
  
//There goes the neighborhood indeed// he thought grimly.  
  
~owari chapter 27  
  
[1] Just a note: I love Sailor Moon. ^_^ Can't say the same for Barney, though. Sorry to all you Barney fans out there.  
  
"Diebus Fatalibus"  
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Next Chapter...  
Sink to the Bottom With You Ch. 28  
"Safe Haven Junon City" 


	30. Safe Haven Junon City

Sink to the Bottom With You   
Chapter 28: Safe Haven Junon City   
"I didn't see a thing until you unintentionally…exposed yourself." Vincent Valentine   
  
FOR KYRA, WHO WON THE 2222 COUNTER-FIC PRIZE! ^_^ CONGRATULATIONS!   
  
* * * * * * * *   
  
The sky above them was yawning and black, filled with churning storm clouds and flashing lightening, but at least it was there. Cloud never realized how much he had taken a typical, stormy sky for granted until, walking around in the dark sewers, it had seemed that he would never see one again. It was a beautiful sight to him, if anything could be considered beautiful at a time like this. Cloud was beyond tired, beyond exhausted, beyond fatigued. His body had stopped hurting a long time ago, and his legs were trudging along on autopilot, one foot in front of the other mindlessly. He was afraid that if he stopped walking, he would never be able to start up again. Freezing rain chilled him to the bone, and he would have hugged himself for warmth if he hadn't known that it would be futile.   
  
The others were no better off. Everyone knew the trashed landscape of Sector Five like the backs of their hands, but with their weary limbs and downtrodden hearts, they were having trouble navigating. Rude was trudging along with Elena riding on his back. The female Turk had injured her ankle trying to escape back through the underwater cavern. Heels were not meant for rock hopping. Cid was barely managing to stay on his feet, even using the Venus Gospel as a cane of sorts to help him along. Several times Tifa or Barret had offered to aid the pilot, but each time they had been gruffly turned away. For some odd reason, Cid didn't want anyone touching him. At first, Cait didn't seem to be having any problems, but then the left side of his moogle suddenly went dead, and he informed Cloud that a rock had busted one of his motor circuits. Now the robotic cat was forced to hobble along just like the rest of them. Out of the entire damn group, Cloud would have said that Vincent was having the least trouble, even with Yuffie in his arms, but the swordsman had seen the red-eyed man stumble and fall to his knees once or twice. It both relieved and scared him to know that Vincent wasn't as impervious to physical and mental ailments as everyone seemed to think.   
  
Nearly tripping over a piece of scrap metal lying in his path, Cloud forced himself to plod forward, the exit of Sector Five coming into view. He almost called back to his teammates to report his findings, but he knew there would be no use in doing such a thing. They wouldn't hear him anyways.   
  
At the snail's pace they were moving at, it took an eternity for the group to finally make it to the outskirts of Midgar, now covered with mud as well as sewer grime. It took Cloud a couple of minutes to order his feet to stop. They didn't seem to be interested in doing anything he wanted them to do, but once he finally got his message across, the numb limbs finally halted their mindless motion and just stood there in the dark mud.   
  
There was nothing but water as far as he could see. Just water and more water, maybe broken by the tops of what was once rolling hills but now looked like miniature islands in an endless sea. The highway was gone. The buggy was gone. The mud surrounding Midgar melded into the flooded land twenty feet from where they were standing.   
  
He vaguely heard some of the others give loud cries of frustration behind him. He heard the sound of still more of them collapsing wearily into the mud. But Cloud felt nothing. He just kept staring out over the water, wondering dumbly where all the land had gone.   
  
//It was swallowed// came his soundless answer. //Swallowed by the ocean. She's taking back what is rightfully hers.//   
  
"Right," Cloud muttered to himself. Of course, he might have simply thought the word. He couldn't tell; he didn't even really care any longer.   
  
He turned his face up the night sky, letting the needle-sharp raindrops lacerate his numb skin. He felt so cold, so unstable. There was a vague trembling in the core of his being that he couldn't contain, and he knew it wasn't from the cold. But not once did he stop to ponder the strange sensation. He just stood there and let the rain soak and chill him to the bone.   
  
When the Highwind came, he didn't even see it at first.   
  
He thought it was another star, this one moving and swirling in some kind of mysterious dance. It never occurred to him that stars didn't move, didn't dance. Then he heard the sound of the engines, sensed a mighty wind causing turbulence in the dark water. The searchlight suddenly exploded around him, and without thinking, he lifted his arms to shield his sensitive eyes from the blinding light. His spiky hair was whipped into a frenzy by the drafts created by the airship. The cockpit windows flashed as lightening illuminated the night.   
  
Yet his jaded mind still refused to believe it until something brown whooshed past his body, swinging back and forth.   
  
//A rope ladder?// he wondered dumbly.   
  
Automatically, his eyes trailed up the length of the ladder, and it was only then that he saw and recognized the impressive airship known as the Highwind and the quadruped known as Red XIII, who was waiting for them on the deck, his fiery fur a beacon in the darkness.   
  
Cloud smiled.   
  
* * * * * *   
  
Flying the Highwind wasn't quite as hard as Reno had thought it would be, especially considering that he had no previous experience flying the bucket of bolts. Once he got it started up and discovered the wonderful thing called the "autopilot", it was fairly smooth sailing. The only thing he had to worry about was flying too high and getting struck by lightening. It had taken a couple of close encounters to convince him to take the thing off autopilot and fly it manually, which was what he was concentrating on doing when he suddenly heard someone walk - no, limp - into the cockpit.   
  
"Who's there?" he demanded, feeling stupid talking to air, but he wasn't quite confident enough to take his eyes off the control panel.   
  
"Me," said a voice so weary that it took Reno a couple of seconds to realize it was Cloud's.   
  
"Get up here where I can see you," the Turk ordered, trying to keep his voice as least authoritative as possible. The last thing he needed was for the leader of AVALANCHE to get standoffish when Reno was too busy worrying about crashing the Highwind into a mountain range.   
  
Boots scraped across the metal floor, and a second later, Cloud appeared to Reno's left. The Turk chanced a glance at the swordsman, his eyes widening slightly as he took in the lacerated skin, the dried blood, the damp, torn uniform.   
  
"You look like shit and a half," he declared.   
  
Mako blue eyes glared at him tiredly as their owner leaned heavily against the control panel. "Good to see that you're as eloquent as always."   
  
"Hands off the control panel," Reno snapped.   
  
"It's either the panel or your shoulder."   
  
Reno let him lean on the control panel. The two stood in silence for a few minutes with nothing but the whir of the Highwind and the sound of the lashing rain all around them. Reno alternated between studying the control panel and nervously watching the ever-present mountain ranges through the massive cockpit windows. He had been having a semi-difficult time before, but now that Cloud was leaning on the panel only inches away from Reno's left elbow, the Turk was having trouble concentrating. He kept glancing at the swordsman, expecting him to say something degrading about Reno's less-than-perfect flying job or to ask him what the hell happened to the Final Heaven bar. Cloud did none of these things, though; he seemed to be focusing most of his efforts on staying on his own two feet.   
  
"You know, Strife," Reno said coolly. "If you want to faint, go ahead and do it. Normally I'd laugh at you for being a weakling, but I think I'll make an exception just this one time."   
  
Cloud suddenly sat down on the floor. Hard. Reno jumped in surprise, and the Highwind jumped with him.   
  
"Goddamn, Cloud!" he exclaimed. "You trying to make me crash or something?" He readjusted his sweaty grip on the steering mechanism. [1]   
  
"Sorry," Cloud said wearily as he leaned his back against the side of the control panel, slouching against the cool metal.   
  
"No you're not," Reno accused half-heartedly. "Where's Cid when we need him?"   
  
"Down in the cargo hold."   
  
Reno frowned without taking his eyes off of the cockpit windows. "What the hell is he doing down there? He should be up here piloting this damn thing."   
  
Cloud shook his head, and a couple of locks of blonde hair fell into his face. He didn't bother to brush them away. "Something happened to Cid. He's not at his best right now."   
  
"None of us are," Reno said dryly.   
  
"I know," Cloud said thickly, as if it were costing him much strength just to talk. "Red told me about the Faceless Man and the bar."   
  
"Glad the furball took the initiative," Reno commented.   
  
"Did you have anything to add?" Cloud asked.   
  
Reno briefly thought about telling the AVALANCHE leader that their mysterious attacker's name was Montana but, looking down at Cloud's mass of tangled blonde spikes and torn uniform, he decided that such things could wait until later.   
  
"No. Nothing to add."   
  
Cloud didn't reply this time, and Reno let the silence spread its wings long enough for him to steer the Highwind past a dangerously tall mountain peak, the glistening craggy surface of the geological giant passing a little too close to the side of the ship for comfort, but at least they didn't crash. Reno was just thankful that the blasted Highwind had headlights of sorts so he wouldn't be - literally - flying blind.   
  
"So," he suddenly spoke up, voice loud in the quiet. "You guys…found Yuffie?"   
  
The blond spikes lying against the side of the control panel shifted slightly. "Yeah. Vincent has her right now. Hasn't let go of her for a single second since we first found her."   
  
Reno hesitated. "And Reeve?"   
  
There was a long pause, and then Cloud said quietly, "We didn't find him."   
  
Reno's throat tightened with a strange mix of anger and anguish. "Did you even *look* for him?"   
  
Cloud shifted, and suddenly Reno found two Mako blue eyes staring up at him. "I'm not going to lie to you, Reno," Cloud said evenly. "We didn't have time to look for him. The entire lair was falling down around our ears. We had to get out or we would have all been killed."   
  
Reno believed him, but still insisted, "Whatever. Next time you guys want to go on a so-called 'rescue mission', my ass is going along to make sure we get *everyone* out alive."   
  
The blonde suddenly slid away from the control panel to lie on his side on the floor. "You're more than welcome to come, Reno," he said tiredly. "Going down there, I kept thinking how hard it was going to be to keep track of so many people at once, but when we were down there running around blind like chocobos with our heads cut off, I realized that we needed *all* of our forces."   
  
Something occurred to Reno. "Speaking of chocobos, Red let the ones in the stables out of their pens. Here's to hoping the bird-brains will come back."   
  
"They'll come back. They always do. Chocobos can actually swim fairly well."   
  
"Lucky for them," Reno said dryly, trying to not look at the pale figure lying on the metal floor of the Highwind. For some reason, seeing Cloud sprawled there so…lifelessly bothered the crap out of him. Weakness wasn't something he wanted to see in a man who he had to call "leader."   
  
"For god's sake, Strife, get your ass up," Reno snapped, forcing himself to keep his eyes riveted on the cockpit windows.   
  
"Don't know if I can," Cloud muttered.   
  
Reno's aquamarine eyes narrowed, and though he wasn't looking in the Cloud's direction, there was no mistaking whom his words were for. "Well, you better get up because let me tell you something: those people down there in the cargo hold - your friends - they're just waiting for you to keel over and give up because then that'll give them permission to knuckle under, too."   
  
Cloud laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. "They know they don't need my permission to show weakness, Reno. It's not like I'm the backbone of AVALANCHE. I may unite them under myself like a leader is supposed to do, but they support each other, and they support me as well. Besides…why do you think I waited until I was up here to fall to the floor?"   
  
That almost made Reno tear his gaze away from the cockpit windows. "What? You thought collapsing in front of me would be better than collapsing in front of everyone else?"   
  
"You don't like me anyways," Cloud said with a shrug.   
  
Reno frowned. "I like you just fine, Strife."   
  
//Can't believe I just said that//   
  
"That's nice," Cloud said levelly.   
  
"You don't really care either way, do you?"   
  
"Not in particular, just like you really don't care whether or not I like you."   
  
"That's different. I'm used to not being liked."   
  
"Sad."   
  
Reno scowled and said sarcastically, "Yeah, that's really sad, isn't it? Too bad I couldn't give less of a damn."   
  
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Cloud watching him thoughtfully. "You know, I take back what I said a few seconds ago. I think you do care what people think of you in some distant, repressed sort of way."   
  
Reno's face darkened. "You're full of shit. Don't you dare tell me what I'm thinking when you don't know what you're thinking because if you're thinking that I'm thinking about *caring* what other people think of me, then you're thinking down the wrong lines there, buddy."   
  
Cloud blinked. "You lost me back on the 'shit' part."   
  
Reno suddenly laughed. "I lost myself back on the 'shit' part, too." He glanced down the control panel, all the laughter vanishing from his face as he beheld the electronic map in front of him. "I think I'm lost, Mr. Leader."   
  
Cloud rolled onto his stomach and rested his head on his folded arms. "So turn the autopilot on," he muttered.   
  
"I did," Reno insisted. "But it started flying us too high, and we almost got struck by lightening. Twice."   
  
"So adjust the altitude controls," Cloud suggested.   
  
"Where are those?" Reno responded grumpily. He didn't like asking for help, especially when he couldn't decide whether said person was a friend or an enemy.   
  
"Somewhere on the control panel," Cloud said, quite unhelpfully.   
  
Reno rolled his aquamarine eyes. "Thanks a lot. You're about as helpful as a thorn in the side."   
  
"I want to go back down into the cargo hold with the others," Cloud suddenly said, thinking out loud.   
  
Reno made a face and steered the Highwind carefully over another mountain range. Or was it the same one? "What are you telling me for?" he demanded of Cloud. "Just get up off the floor and march your happy ass back down the stairs."   
  
"Don't think I can walk on my own," Cloud said after a brief pause.   
  
Reno felt a mischievous grin spreading across his face. "You want to me to yell for one of the others?"   
  
"No," Cloud said sullenly.   
  
"Okay," the Turk said cheerfully. "Have fun crawling back down the stairs, then."   
  
Cloud glared at him. "Reno…" he growled.   
  
"Shut your flapper. I'm trying to not crash here, you know."   
  
"Reno," Cloud snarled, managing to sound tired and angry at the same time.   
  
"Look, Strife, like I told you before, unless you want to end up splattered across-"   
  
"Oh, goddammit! Reno, can you *please* set the ship on autopilot and help me hobble down the goddamn stairs?!"   
  
"Oh??? You wanted *help* from *me*! Well, why didn't you say so?"   
  
Cloud groaned and banged his forehead against the metal floor.   
  
* * * * * *   
  
Vincent pressed his naked palm against Yuffie's forehead, cool skin to feverish flesh. A frown creased his brow, his crimson eyes narrowing ever so slightly. It had been quite a while since they had escaped from the underground lair, and Yuffie still had yet to awaken. Her fever was still present, the fiery demon, and it didn't seem like it was going to be departing from its victim anytime soon.   
  
Carefully, he sank the bare fingers of his ungloved hand into the tangled brown hair, feeling the illness throbbing along the scalp. Yuffie had no other noticeable injuries save for the fever. There was a line of oval-shaped bruises on her upper arms, most likely from being manhandled at one time or the other. A knot graced the side of her head, hidden underneath her hair, probably a result of being knocked unconscious by her kidnappers, whoever *they* were.   
  
Vincent huddled further into the corner he was sitting in, resettling Yuffie's limbs in his lap and tucking her head underneath his chin, just to feel her breath flit across the skin of his neck. He was glad to have her back, and the intensity of his own emotions was starting to frighten him a bit. He shouldn't be *this* relieved. He couldn't afford to be…   
  
Holding her closer against him, Vincent laid his cheek against her too-warm hair and surveyed the rest of the cargo hold, where the others sat in silence in various corners of the room. Tifa was lying down on one of the crates, her tangled brown hair dangling off the edge and almost brushing the back of Red XIII, who was lying on the floor beside her crate. Barret was slumped against one of the walls, arms folded and chin resting on this chest, seemingly asleep. Rude and Elena were sitting against the wall opposite Vincent, tucked in between two crates like a pair of overgrown children trying to hide from the monster that they just discovered lived in their closet. Cid was huddled in the farthest corner of the room, a brooding look on his weathered face and the Venus Gospel clutched tightly in his gloved hands. He hadn't spoken a word since they had escaped the underground lair, and the aura he was emitting silently forbade anyone to approach him. Vincent was fairly certain the pilot's predicament had something to do with their encounter with the Hissers, but so long as he didn't know what was bothering Cid, there was nothing he could do for his friend.   
  
The sound of boots on metal drew Vincent's attention to the top of the stairs that led into the cargo hold. Reno and Cloud appeared above the cargo hold, the swordsman's arm flung around his companion's shoulders. At first it seemed as if Reno was only supporting a minimal amount of Cloud's weight, but Vincent could tell from the strain he saw in both men that Reno was practically carrying the other man as they hobbled carefully down the metal stairs, two souls weary from battle. Cloud's uniform was ripped and torn, and there was a cut on his face that was probably going to leave a scar. Reno had dried blood smeared on his white dress shirt, and there was a ring of bruises on his slender neck that probably wouldn't disappear for days.   
  
Reno's condition apparently hadn't affected his sense of humor, though. The minute he and Cloud reached the cargo hold, he deposited the swordsman on a nearby crate and smiled.   
  
"Well, how's everyone doing this fine and lovely evening?"   
  
Silence, except for the humming of the Highwind's engines.   
  
Vincent saw worry flash briefly in Reno's aquamarine eyes, but the Turk quickly covered it up with a scowl. "Well, don't everyone answer at once."   
  
"We're heading for Junon," Cloud announced. "We should be there within half an hour."   
  
"Why so long?" Barret asked gruffly, rousing himself from his pseudo-nap.   
  
"We have to fly slower because of the storm," Reno replied. "There's a couple of nifty instruments in the autopilot that can react automatically if we come across a mountain range, but they need time to calculate a reaction. At least it'll stop us from crashing and burning."   
  
"What will we do once we get to Junon?" Tifa asked, sitting up on her crate. "Lower Junon has probably been evacuated due to flooding. We would have to stay in a hotel in Upper Junon. We have enough money, and it would be the only place big enough to fit all of us."   
  
"But we also have assassins after us," Red spoke up. "Innocent bystanders might be caught in the crossfire if we take up residence in a public establishment."   
  
"I know a place where we can go," Rude suddenly said, and everyone - even Cid - turned their gaze to where the tall man was sandwiched in between two crates, back against one and feet against the other.   
  
"I have a friend in Junon named Kyra," the Turk continued.   
  
"No, no, NO!!" Reno exclaimed, shaking his head violently, ponytail lashing the air behind him.   
  
"She and Reno don't get along very well," Rude explained calmly, "but I've known her for a long time, and I assure you that's she's completely trustworthy. She owns a restaurant in Upper Junon. The entire top floor is a living quarters, and she told me that if I ever needed help or shelter, to contact her."   
  
Reno looked less than pleased. "She *also* told you that if you brought me along, she would make me sleep in the dumpster outside the restaurant."   
  
Rude just stared at him. "I believe I can convince her to make an exception this one time."   
  
"Sounds like a plan," Cloud said approvingly. "Does anyone have any objections?"   
  
Vincent wasn't too thrilled about shacking up in a stranger's house, but he knew it was the best they were going to get at the moment. Yuffie might need medical attention soon, and she wasn't going to find it as long as he was being picky about the housing situation. He also had a feeling that he would be able to trust Rude's judgment as far as friends went; the Turk seemed like the kind that chose his companions carefully. And from the looks on everyone else's faces, they all seemed to accept Rude's suggestion as their next course of action. The only one who made a remotely sour face at the idea was Elena, but whatever her protests might have been, she didn't voice them.   
  
The others continued speaking amongst themselves, but Vincent was only half-listening. He looked down at Yuffie, at her pale face, slack lips, delicate eyelids with their dark lashes, and he silently willed the Highwind to get them to Junon as soon as possible.   
  
* * * * * * *   
  
She was warm all over, but it was bad sort of warm. The warmth of fire that was burning too close to weak, fragile skin. The warm of a soul-eating fever caused by a disease that would devour her from the inside out. The warmth of the flames of Hell. That was the heat that was racing across her skin, pulsing in her head, running its dark course along her nerve endings. And then there was the madness, like a yawning whirlpool beneath her, a hungry Charybdis inhaling the meal it consumed thrice a day. Only this ravenous madness would not spew her back out; once she was sucked in, that was it.   
  
Was this what had happened to Reeve? Did he feel this fever? Did this madness swallow him up? Did he hear these voices like she was hearing? The voices that blurred, echoed and shattered within the recesses of her mind?   
  
~"How much longer? We need to get her…get her to a doctor…doctor as quickly possible."~   
~"…be too much longer. But do you really think…really think a doctor will be able to help her…help her?"~   
  
Floating…floating…in the sea of voices. For an instant, she thought she might have heard her friends, but she knew it was just her memories. She imagined she smelled Vincent's scent, felt the closeness of damp clothes, a warm hand pressed against her face, but it couldn't have been real, could it? There were so many sensations in this place that she couldn't find the sense of mind to hang onto just one of them.   
  
~"Better not crash this ship or…ship or I gonna beat his ass!"~   
~"Geez, have a little faith in him, why don't you…why don't you?"~   
  
Yuffie was five years old, and she was sleepy. She didn't know why Mama had woken her up so early. Normally, she only got up when Seki and Hikaru came and asked her go outside and play. But here was her mother, standing above her in her battle clothes, shuriken strapped onto her back and sword resting against her narrow hip. And though they weren't visible, Yuffie knew that there was an array of throwing knives hidden underneath the traditional Wutainese female ninja uniform.   
  
Where was Mama going? Was there a battle? Yuffie was worried now. Confused and worried. Ayami leaned down and kissed her forehead, the ribbons woven in her dark hair brushing the little girl's robust face softly, tickling. She smiled down at her daughter, and Yuffie smiled back. Then her mother whispered softly to her, telling her secrets, secrets about her song, secrets about hidden meanings in the tales that old fisherman sang drunkenly in the local bars - more than what they seemed. //Heed their seemingly foolish words// she said. //Listen and learn from them// Yuffie nodded enthusiastically and said she would, even though she had no idea what Mama was talking about. Her mother's brown eyes were right in front of her, so warm and lovely. Yuffie fell into them, into their tender light, surrounded by the scent of her mother's perfume. She fell into a deep asleep, and when she woke up, her mother was gone.   
  
And Kira Ayami Kotori never returned.   
  
~"What's wrong…wrong with your pretty little girlfriend, stranger?"~   
~"She needs a doctor…doctor right now."~   
~"Well, good evening to you, too."~   
~"…my manners, Ms. Kyra…Kyra…"~   
  
Yuffie and Aeris were running through the green mists together, hand in hand. The young ninja was lagging behind; she didn't want to be around the mists, around the green light, around that horrible smell. But Aeris seemed unafraid. Her long hair was wound into its usual twist, so wonderfully familiar, and it bounced around the back of her pink dress as she ran. She had left her red jacket somewhere, and her shoulders were pale and ghostly in the greenish darkness. Yuffie was holding her soft, cool hand in a sweaty grip, wanting to hang on and let go at the same time.   
  
//It's down here// Aeris was saying as she continued tugging Yuffie along. //It's down here in the heart of the Planet. We must kill it//   
  
But Yuffie didn't want to see it. Didn't want to see the Beast, the monster that lived in the heart of the Planet. Didn't want to be swallowed by its mighty heartbeat, the same one that was echoing off the walls as they ran. She was scared, and Aeris must have sensed that fear because she suddenly turned her head and smiled gently at her friend, soft pink lips curling beautifully. And her eyes were green, green like the mists, green like Titus' eyes.   
  
~"…take first shift…shift."~   
~"Are you sure…you sure?"~   
~"Positive."~   
  
Vincent and…Tifa? Were they here in this realm of chaotic memories? Were they lost amongst the madness like her? Please let the answer be 'no.'   
  
~"Hey, woman! Wash my shirt, why don't you?"~   
~"Watch it, Reno. The dumpster's nice and cozy this time of year."~   
~"Oooh, feisty!"~   
  
Reno?! No, it couldn't be. He, Red, and Elena got eaten by stupid Titus' *stupid* Evict…didn't they? Titus had said…Titus…Titus…   
  
TAKE ME TO TITUS.   
  
~"…fever…coming down…"~   
  
Titus was standing in front of her, looking like he had been through hell and back a dozen times. His leather jacket and dark jeans were covered with rock dust, staining parts of the fabric a strange shade of brownish-white. The same substance was clinging to his white-blonde hair in powdery sections. His eyes were steady, though, fearless and unwavering as he strode through a tunnel in some dark place. There was a shadowy, feminine figure behind him, but it was indistinct, shifty, insignificant. Yuffie was only watching Titus. Watching that determined, stubborn set to his full mouth. Watching the pride in his elegant features. Watching the deep purple orbs on the back of his hands flashing in the darkness. Watching those green eyes, green like the mists, green like Aeris' eyes.   
  
He was heading to Junon. He was trying to escape this last time when he knew that, in the end, escape was futile. They would hunt him down. They would kill him. He would never be free. He needed to get rid of Fa-Li while there was still a slim chance that-   
  
Yuffie didn't know how it happened, but Titus somehow *saw* her. Those horribly familiar eyes suddenly shifted and focused on the exact spot where she was hovering. It almost made her want to look down and see if she was really there. It certainly didn't *feel* like she was there - physically, at least. But Titus apparently knew of her presence, and it didn't please him one bit.   
  
And invisible *something* suddenly lashed out from him, struck her squarely, and then Yuffie was falling again. But this time, instead of falling into madness, she fell into herself. Into a cage of aches and pains. Into her body.   
  
Of course, it took her a couple of seconds to realize that she once again *had* a body. A body with toes and fingers and legs and arms. A body that was aching like someone had beaten her from head to toe with a sledgehammer.   
  
//Man this sucks. I need to quit waking up like this// she thought grumpily.   
  
She opened her eyes as slowly as possible, expecting a sudden invasion of light to blind her. There was only a blurry world around her, a myriad of colors all swimming together like happy fish in a pond. She was able to discern certain shapes, like the light fixture embedded in the ceiling, shining with dim light. Slowly, the plain wooden walls swam out of the sea of blurriness. She became aware of the fact that there was a blanket covering her body, a pillow settled beneath her head, and staring at down at her was a man.   
  
And what a handsome man he was. Long dark hair cascaded around his face, brushing his pale skin. There were a couple of nasty-looking bruises marring the masculine perfection of his features, and the faintly luminescent red eyes were a bit disconcerting, but other than that…   
  
//Whoa! Hold on a second! I *know* this guy! He's…//   
  
"Vinnie!" Yuffie cried, her voice emerging weakly from her throat. At the same time his name left her lips, she abruptly sat up in bed for some absurd reason unbeknownst even to her. The result was rather painful. Her forehead ended up colliding right smack with Vincent's, with enough force to send both of them reeling from the blow, clutching at their smarting foreheads. Yuffie even received the distinct honor of hearing Vincent Valentine say:   
  
"Ouch."   
  
Yuffie gritted her teeth and tried her hardest not to feel like a big fat klutz. "Geez Vinnie!" she exclaimed. "You sure have a hard head!"   
  
Vincent just looked at her, and she was amazed to see his face infused with not just one emotion, but several. Indignation, disbelief, awe, and strangely enough, something that looked suspiciously like happiness.   
  
//Naw…my vision must still be blurry or something// Yuffie quickly amended silently. No way Vincent could be happy to see *her*.   
  
Blinking her eyes to keep the world from spinning crazily, Yuffie was about to make another witty comment to make up for her lack of grace when she suddenly saw Vincent's eyes flick to her chest before he cleared his throat and looked away pointedly.   
  
Yuffie frowned at the man sitting on the edge of her bed before glancing down at herself.   
  
"Ahh!" she shrieked, grabbing the edge of the blanket and covering herself quickly. "You pervert! What the hell did you do with my clothes?!"   
  
//Had to be the black bra. Damn it! First I bash him in the forehead, and now he sees me in my black bra! This isn't happening. This isn't happening//   
  
Vincent crossed his arms over his chest and made a point of studying the floor. "I didn't do anything with your clothes," he said calmly. "They were wet from the rain so Tifa undressed you and covered you with a blanket. I didn't see a thing until you unintentionally…exposed yourself."   
  
"Damn straight it was unintentional!" Yuffie exclaimed hotly. Her face was burning up; she couldn't *believe* she had just "exposed" herself in front of Vincent. How goddamn freaking embarrassing! And the silence that was falling between them was making it even worse so Yuffie decided to sacrifice even MORE of her dignity to fill it.   
  
"Whose clothes are you wearing *now*?" she asked, noting that Vincent had changed into a long-sleeved white shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Average clothes for a SO not average man.   
  
Vincent glanced down at the garments, as if they were alien objects not attached to his person. "The jeans are Rude's. The shirt is Cloud's."   
  
"No wonder," Yuffie continued, still clutching the blankets to her chest. "The shirt is too small and the jeans are WAY too big."   
  
Vincent looked at her from the corner of his eye, ebony strands of hair making the crimson depths of his eye even more noticeable. "Why are you harping on my clothes again, Yuffie?"   
  
"To distract myself from the fact that I'm not wearing any!" Yuffie snapped.   
  
The corners of Vincent's mouth tightened in what might have been a smile. "Don't worry, Yuffie. Would you like me to call Tifa and ask her to bring you some?"   
  
Yuffie blinked her gray eyes, some of the fire in their depths dimming slightly. "Tifa? She's here? Is everyone here? Where are we anyways?"   
  
"In a restaurant in Junon."   
  
"Junon?! What happened to the Final Heaven bar?"   
  
"It burned and then flooded," Vincent stated bluntly. "But that's not my story to tell. Right now we're staying with one of Rude's old friends named Kyra."   
  
"Oh. I see," Yuffie replied, looking around the room, which was actually rather pretty now that she paid more attention to it instead of her state of undress and the man sitting casually on her bed. The walls were wooden like those of the Final Heaven bar, and it gave Yuffie a comforting sense of familiarity. The bed she occupied was actually one of two that took up the space against one wall. To her right was a nightstand with a nice, simple lamp perched on it. Further beyond that was another bed, various weapons, including - Yuffie was delighted to see - her beloved Conformer, the materia glittering its rightful slots. The shuriken's companions were a rather colorful assortment of guns, gloves, spears, and even a pair of nunchuku.   
  
//Geez, put a sick lady in the freaking armory, why don't they?// she thought sourly.   
  
She felt a strange weight against her face and looked back to find Vincent looking at her. Making a face at him, she pulled her blanket up higher. Damn thing seemed intent on slipping all the way down. "What are you looking at?" she demanded.   
  
For a moment, Vincent didn't say anything. The intensity in those crimson eyes made the blood come rushing back to her face, her blush returning with a vengeance. Her eyes widened slightly, and she would have squirmed if Vincent hadn't practically been sitting on her blanket-covered legs. Here it was again, this warm, throbbing feeling in her chest, the weakness in her limbs, the acute awareness that everything she was - women, ninja - was lain bare for all to see. It made her feel naked even though the feeling wasn't necessarily a bad one. What boggled her was that *Vincent* was the one making her feel it.   
  
Something glimmered in those scarlet eyes, and Vincent suddenly stunned the life out of her by turning his face away and laughing. Beautiful, full-throated laughter that she couldn't believe was coming from the likes of Vincent Valentine. Presently, the darkness that Vincent usually radiated was absent, and he seemed more like the man Yuffie knew he was, rather than the monster he thought himself to be. His shoulders shook slightly as he laughed, his dark hair shimmering under the lights, and Yuffie wanted to reach out and sink her fingers into that thick hair, just to reassure herself that he was real. And to think that if she had died down there in that place of green mists and unearthly torturers, she might never have seen him again.   
  
The door suddenly creaked open, and Yuffie jumped slightly, jolted from her thoughts of unfamiliar emotions.   
  
Tifa strode into the room, asking, "My god, Vincent, what in the world is so-" Her eyes fell on Yuffie, and they got so big they nearly bugged out of her head.   
  
Yuffie smile at her friend. "Hey, Tifa!" she said cheerfully and was surprised to find that her good mood was genuine.   
  
//Wow. If Vinnie's laughter affects everyone like this, then he should do it more often. Wonder what he found so funny anyways?//   
  
Then the young woman suddenly found herself wrapped in a crushing embrace by one Tifa Lockhart, who was unintentionally choking the life out of her good friend. Yuffie's sore body protested the painful hug while she scrambled to keep a grip on her blanket. Tifa was one mighty strong woman.   
  
"I'm so glad you're safe! I'm so glad you're safe!" Tifa kept saying over and over again.   
  
"Me, too," Yuffie choked out, her arms pinned between herself and her friend.   
  
Tifa suddenly pulled back, but kept her grip on Yuffie's bare shoulders, squeezing gently as if to make sure that the girl before her was real. The martial artist's burgundy eyes were shimmering, but her smile was just as bright as ever.   
  
Yuffie laughed. "Oh no, Tifa, don't you *dare* start crying!"   
  
The woman smiled and released her friend's shoulders, folding her callused hands in her lap. "Of course not, but I'm just so happy you're okay, Yuffie!"   
  
Yuffie cast a glance at Vincent, who had stopped laughing and was watching the joyful reunion with a neutral face. "I'd be even happier if I had some clothes."   
  
Tifa patted her hand reassuringly. "Don't worry. I told Kyra to-"   
  
As if on cue, a feminine figure came through the doorway with a bundle of clothes in her arms. Yuffie blinked in surprise at the unfamiliar person. The new woman was in her late teens or early twenties, barely taller than Yuffie herself, but far more striking. With auburn hair and eyes a startling shade of amber, the woman gave off a bold, independent air like most other females gave off perfume.   
  
Kyra walked to the foot of the bed and smiled at Yuffie. "It's good to see you're awake. A while ago, your boyfriend here was thinking about calling a doctor."   
  
Yuffie looked at Vincent and turned beet red. "Boyfriend?! Vinnie is NOT my boyfriend!"   
  
The mischievous glint in Kyra's eyes said that she didn't quite believe Yuffie. "Whatever you say, honey. Here, I brought you some clothes. They're mine so they might be a just a little bit big on you, but beggars can't be choosers, right?" She winked, taking the bite about what could have been a harsh statement.   
  
Yuffie smiled at the woman and was about to reply when she was distracted by the light glinting off Kyra's auburn hair, turning some strands red like fire. Red…sewers…the Evict!   
  
"Tifa!" Yuffie suddenly cried, grabbing her friend's arms in a vise-like grip, her blanket slipping all the way down to her waist. Vincent dutifully looked away, and Kyra let out a small sound of surprise.   
  
Wide burgundy eyes willed her to calm down. "What is it, Yuffie?" Tifa asked, clasping her friend's hand.   
  
Yuffie was suddenly having trouble breathing. She saw that horrible Faceless Man/Woman clawing at her from behind its cell, still coherent enough to moan piteously, still coherent enough to weep salty tears. She saw Titus pulling mercilessly on the thing's arms, heard him talking about the Evicts - creatures that would eat anything they could get their claws on. And she imagined Reno, Red, and Elena alone in the sewers with such a thing. Somewhere in the midst of the chaos brought on by her fever, she had thought she heard Reno's voice, but still…   
  
"Red!" she cried, staring into Tifa's startled eyes. "Where are Red, Reno, and Elena?!"   
  
Tifa squeezed her hand. "They're safe, Yuffie," she said soothingly. "Would you like us to get them?" She looked at Kyra.   
  
"Uh-huh!" Kyra exclaimed, shaking her head. "Reno's in the shower, and there's no way I'm going to get him!"   
  
"Just take our word for it, Yuffie," Vincent spoke up, voice low and calm, but something in it made Yuffie focus all her attention on him, forgetting that Tifa was holding onto her hand. "Everyone is fine."   
  
"And Reeve?" Yuffie heard herself ask. For some reason, she couldn't get her eyes to focus properly. The room started to swim.   
  
Vincent's red eyes bore into her. "We didn't find him," he said quietly.   
  
"Oh," Yuffie wanted to say, but her mouth no longer wanted to work. What was happening to her? Was the madness coming back? No, no, that wasn't it. Something…there was something…   
  
Tunnel.   
  
Abandoned building.   
  
Escape. Escape to…   
  
"Junon," she suddenly whispered. "Titus is coming…"   
  
"What's wrong with her?" Tifa's voice asked, the first edge of panic starting to make its appearance.   
  
Vincent's voice came, flat and soothing in its own way. "She might be having some kind of relapse. Overexertion, maybe."   
  
Darkness started creeping in on the sides of her vision, seeking to drown her already blurry world. She felt no fear, though, no panic whatsoever. She was going to go to sleep in a little while, but first she need to tell them…   
  
"Titus," she murmured, not knowing if her voice was loud enough.   
  
One of the blurs shifted, and the scent of Vincent suddenly surrounded her. "What is it, Yuffie?" he whispered, voice so soft and intimate that it would have made her blush if she wasn't about to pass out.   
  
//Titus…he doesn't know the name…yet…//   
  
"Running Man," she muttered, forcing the words past her throat. "Coming…15th street…downtown…"   
  
The blackness devoured her vision then, but not before she felt a hand brush her face, warm and callused. She smiled to herself because now she knew that when the madness had been at its worst, Vincent had been the one holding her the entire way through.   
  
~owari chapter 28   
  
[1] Hey, I honestly didn't know what to call it! What would you steer the Highwind with? A steering wheel? No. A joystick? No. O_O


	31. Refugees of Turmoil

Sink to the Bottom With You  
Chapter 29: Refugees of Turmoil  
"AVALANCHE has come for our heads." Titus  
  
Elena couldn't believe they were on the move. Again.  
  
//And all because Yuffie woke up and said the Running Man was coming to Junon// she thought sourly as she slouched in her seat in the back of the van. Elena wasn't making it a big secret that she had little faith in what Yuffie said. Hadn't the girl been suffering an extremely high fever only a couple of hours ago? Didn't the word "delirious" come to mind? Sometimes she was certain that she was surrounded by idiots.  
  
Yet, here she was, sitting in the back of Kyra's monstrous, bus-sized van with Cid, Tifa, Barret, and Red XIII. Cloud got the dubious honor of sitting in the front with Rude since he was heap-big-AVALANCHE-leader. Rude was driving because he knew Junon better than any of them, and he had surprised everyone by saying that he had a fairly good idea as to the location of the abandoned building Yuffie was babbling about. Vincent had stayed behind to watch over Yuffie like a good man-on-a-guilt-trip. Rude hadn't allowed Kyra to come, much to the red-haired woman's consternation. Cait was busy repairing his busted circuits and lamenting his miserable existence. They'd left Reno singing in the shower. Sure, he was going to be royally PISSED when they got back, but with any luck, they would have the Running Man as a sort of peace offering to make up for their insubordination.  
  
Frowning, Elena slumped even lower in her seat. She'd been in a dark mood all day…even darker once she found out about Kyra. Sure, the woman was nice and everything, but the fact that she was *Rude's* friend made liking her extremely difficult. Elena had no other friends save for Reno and Rude (and maybe AVALANCHE), and she had just assumed - wrongfully - that both Rude and Reno didn't have any other buddies either. The fact that Kyra was a pretty, strong, independent woman didn't help the situation. She was taller than Elena, too. And Rude treated Kyra was such respect, such kindness…  
  
Elena glanced at the driver's seat, where she could just see Rude's large, strong hands gripping the steering wheel, guiding the van through the pouring sheets of rain with infinite care. She knew that she was jealous of Rude's old friend, and she had no idea what to do about it. A situation like this had never presented itself before.  
  
//No use thinking about it, stupid!// she berated herself harshly. //You have to act strong, like a Turk is supposed to be.//  
  
Sitting up straight in her seat, Elena folded her arms across her tattered suit and surveyed the others that were sharing the back of the van with her. She had no idea where Kyra had gotten a van like this, but instead of having two rows of plush, soft seats like a nice family van should have, it instead contained two long benches that protruded from both sides of the van's interior, much like the cell-like vehicles that prisoners rode in. The effect was rather disconcerting; it made Elena feel shut off from the world even though she was sitting right behind the passenger seat and could have poked the back of Cloud's head if she so desired. Which she didn't. Cloud wasn't in very good spirits; he'd probably poke her back with the Ultima Weapon or something.  
  
//He has no right to be in a pissy mood anyways// Elena thought grumpily. //At least, he gets the front seat//  
  
The Turk looked absently at Cid, who was sitting right across from her. He was *still* acting strange. For one thing, he hadn't had a cigarette is what seemed like a very long time. Normally, Elena would see him puffing away even in confined spaces, not caring whether he was contaminating others' lungs with secondhand smoke. Now he was just sitting there, hands wrapped around the Venus Gospel with the spearhead piercing the carpet of the van. His blue eyes were adverted, not looking at anyone, but Elena could tell that something had shaken him deeply.  
  
A flash of sympathy softened her features, and she nudged the tip of his boot with her shoe, even though she sort of had to slouch to do it. His glance flicked upwards, and she smiled at him. He didn't smile back.  
  
Elena frowned as Cid's eyes once again found the floor more interesting than anything else in the van. She knew it wasn't good to bother him with this - after all, Cid was part of AVALANCHE, and she was a Turk - but still…  
  
"What's wrong, Cid?" she asked, voice loud in the silence. "Did all your cigarettes get wet?"  
  
No answer. It was like she hadn't even said anything.  
  
"Jesus, Cid," Elena continued, her worry making her voice sharper than she had intended. "What happened to you?"  
  
When Cid didn't reply, Tifa stirred slightly in her seat next to the pilot. "Cid," she said softly, "Elena's talking to you." The young woman slowly reached out to touch him on the arm, but he scooted away until his shoulder bumped the back of Rude's seat. Tifa clasped her hands in her lap, quickly hiding the look of hurt that crossed her face.  
  
Elena made a face. "Cloud?" she asked. "What's wrong with Cid?"  
  
Cloud twisted his body so that he could glance at the older man, who didn't even bother to look up despite the fact that he was the most popular subject of conversation at the moment. "I don't know," he said quietly. "I think you're going to have to be the one to tell us, Cid."  
  
"Go to hell," the pilot suddenly snapped harshly. "I ain't telling you shit."  
  
Cloud shrugged, unfazed by his friend's rudeness. "Your choice."  
  
"Whatever the hell those brown things did to ya," Barret suddenly spoke up. "I'm sure it don't mean a damn thing."  
  
//Huh? Brown things? What the hell is he talking about?// Elena wondered. Everyone else seemed to mirror her feelings.  
  
"What brown things?" Cloud demanded.  
  
"None of your business," Cid hissed, hands tightening on the Venus Gospel.  
  
Cloud's Mako blue eyes narrowed, then shifted to Barret. "What brown things?" he asked.  
  
Barret lost no time telling his leader, "Nasty hissing brown things we found in Yuffie's torture chamber. Whole shitloads of them that made a lot of goddamn racket. They did *something* to the old man here."  
  
"What sort of something?" Red asked from his seat beside Elena.  
  
The big man didn't answer this time, only lifted his gun arm so that everyone could see the underside of it. There was a gash etched deep in the supposedly unbreakable metal, about three inches in length. It wasn't much, but the Missing Score wasn't valued because of its delicate structure. She knew from experience that bullets fired from a high power pistol wouldn't even so much as *dent* the metal of Barret's gun-arm. There were only a few choice weapons in the world that could cause such damage. Cloud's Ultima Weapon was one. Vincent's Death Penalty was another.  
  
Elena's eyes drifted down to where the spearhead of the Venus Gospel was imbedded in the carpet, unintentionally pushed into the floor of the van as its owner leaned his weight on the spear.  
  
"The Venus Gospel did that damage?" Elena queried, unable to shake the image of the spear coming swooping down…Barret instinctively raising his gun-arm to block the blow.  
  
"The goddamn spear didn't do it," Cid suddenly seethed, blue eyes finally looked at everyone with angry fire. "I did that damage. I cut the back of Vince's shirt, too. If he hadn't moved, I…would have stuck him in the side."  
  
For a moment, there was only silence in the van, but then Cloud asked in a low voice, "Did you do it on purpose?"  
  
Cid looked at him sharply, and the hurt and anger in his blue eyes said it all. "If you think I'd try and kill two of my closest friends on f***ing *purpose*, then there's something wrong with your f***ing head!"  
  
Cloud lowered his eyes. "Sorry, Cid, but I just need to know if there's a chance you may freak out like that again. I need to know if everyone's lives are in danger."  
  
Cid snorted and slumped in his seat, but the lines of his face were both annoyed and troubled all at once. "If I go crazy," he said quietly, "you run me through with that sword of yours, kid. Or get someone to shoot me. You got my permission."  
  
"No one is going to shoot you, Cid," Rude suddenly spoke up.  
  
"Or run you through with a sword," Cloud said angrily. "We're here to protect you, not kill you."  
  
Cid looked down so that the shadows hid his face, but Elena had seen the scary look of relief on his features. "Whatever," he said, in his usual gruff manner. "Can we talk about something else now?"  
  
"Let's talk about how many assassins are out to kill us," Red suggested.  
  
Elena and the others looked at him sharply…before they realized he was being serious. There was no laughter whatsoever in that glittering golden eye. "Well," Cloud said slowly. "Since the Running Man abducted both Reeve and Yuffie, we're going to assume he's our enemy so that's one assassin so far. Two is that Ajax guy." Seeing the blank looks from Barret, Red, and Elena, he hastened to explain, "Ajax was some creepy smiley guy down in the lair. He summoned a Faceless Man and would have attacked us if the big earthquakes hadn't started."  
  
"The assassin named Montana also had a Faceless Man at his beck and call," Red added. "The creatures appear to be pawns controlled by some higher master."  
  
"Some 'higher master' he was if *Reno* managed to escape from him," Barret scoffed, more out of habit than true malevolence.  
  
Elena bristled and was about to snap at the man for insulting her leader when Rude spoke up, "That's not the point. The point is that the one named Montana is running loose somewhere above ground. Ajax is mostly likely still under the earth; he didn't strike me as the type who gets out much. The Running Man is for sure at our destination, according to Yuffie. Montana is still a dangerous unknown, though."  
  
"We'll be prepared," Cloud said firmly as he faced forward again. "We'll be facing the Running Man for sure. We can't let him get away. This may be our only chance to capture him."  
  
There really wasn't much more to say after that. The mood was heavy with dark anticipation, and Elena wanted desperately to do something to alleviate some of the tension, but once she beheld the intense, pensive looks on the others' faces, she realized that any efforts made would be in vain. Instead, she took a deep breath and started preparing herself for the prospective battle ahead. The Running Man had kidnapped her President, maybe even killed him. Something dangerous inside Elena wanted to blow his brains out just for that, but she had to keep her cool. She wouldn't disappoint Reno. She wouldn't disappoint Rude. And she wouldn't disappoint Tseng either…  
  
Quite a while later, the van finally slowed to a crawl, then came to stop with a small jerk. Rude killed the engine, and the sound of rain hitting the metal exterior of the van was the only sound.  
  
"This is it," Rude deadpanned. Without hesitating, he opened the driver's side door and stepped into the rain. Cloud followed in suit, leaving Elena and the others to file out of the back of the van.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
The air of the basement was cold and smelled like mildew and rain, but after what seemed like days of traveling underground in rocky tunnel after rocky tunnel with a pissy Fa-Li following on his heels, Titus welcomed the morbidly beautiful new place. He stopped in the middle of the basement, emerald eyes glowing slightly in the darkness as they took in the rotting crates and burlap sacks of unidentifiable materials that littered the floor. Normally, abandoned buildings as such this one attracted dozens of homeless people looking for shelter, but for some reason, no one ever came to this building. The reason for their avoidance was probably due to the "bad aura" around the dilapidated structure. If they only knew…  
  
Fa-Li stumbled to a stop behind him, huffing and puffing. "We're…finally…out!" she gasped.  
  
Titus didn't even bother to look at her as he strode towards the basement stairs, hoping the rotting wooden steps would be able to hold his weight. Didn't matter either way, though. He could probably jump out of the basement even without the stairs. Not being human had its advantages sometimes.  
  
"Where are you going, Titus?" Fa-Li demanded immediately.  
  
The man rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Where does it *look* like I'm going? I'm leaving the basement, though you can stay down here if you wish."  
  
"I don't think so!" Fa-Li exclaimed. "You're not leaving me behind."  
  
"Oh yeah?" Titus said before he could stop himself.  
  
Small hands suddenly fastened around his arm in vise-like grip though they elicited no reaction from its owner. "Titus," Fa-Li whispered, as if lowering her voice would make what she had just heard less real. "You're not leaving me behind again."  
  
For some reason her words infuriated him. The tight clamp that he had put on his emotions suddenly popped off like the cork stopper of a bottle of wine, leaving his demons free to spill to the surface as they pleased. Wrenching his arm viciously from Fa-Li's grasp, Titus whirled on her, his movements stiff and jerky, like those of marionette. His angry eyes flashed on her dirty face, tangled hair, wide, frightened eyes, but they all failed to incite any feelings of pity or sympathy towards the creature in front of him.  
  
"Who are you to tell me what I am to do or not do?" Titus seethed in a low voice, gritting his teeth to keep from screaming. "If you're suffering under the delusion that I was going to come crawling back to you, then know this: I have no intention of having any kind of relationship with someone like you ever again. I never want to see you again for as long as I live."  
  
As soon as the words left his mouth, Fa-Li reacted as if she had been punched, though not in a physical fashion. Her face didn't crumple; she didn't burst into tears. But nonetheless, Titus could sense something inside her - that hungry thing that liked to feed off the misery of others - withering in the face of his convictions. Anger, hurt - a thousand swirling emotions - filled her dark eyes, but their intense gazes were nothing in the face of the veritable maelstrom that raged within the emerald depths of Titus' own two eyes.   
  
In that moment, he meant every word he said. He cared nothing for no one. All reason and feeling was obliterated by the screaming bitterness that flowed through his body as completely as the blood flowed through his veins - streaming, surging.  
  
"You're terrible, Titus!" Fa-Li suddenly yelled at him, her small form suddenly radiating violence. "I hate you, you know that?!"  
  
His upper lip curled in a sneer, but the harsh words that would have spilled from his lips were abruptly cut off when a sound rang out from the rooms above. Several sounds, actually. Forgetting Fa-Li for the moment, Titus narrowed his eyes and listened, with senses both natural and unnatural.   
  
Well, if it wasn't the pitter-patter of little footsteps. The girl, Yuffie, must have told them where to find him. He *knew* it had been her energy he had sensed.  
  
In spite of herself, Fa-Li actually looked a little worried as Titus turned his gaze back to her, eyes glittering. "AVALANCHE has come for our heads. Better get a move on, Fa-Li. It's every man for himself now."  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
The abandoned building where the Running Man was expected to emerge from was, to put it nicely, a humongous pile of crap. It was probably one of the only buildings in this area of Junon that had managed to remain standing during the social and economic decay of the city as well as the destruction wrought by Meteor. Elena had to admit to a begrudging respect for the pile of rubble and metal beams that had still managed to retain a ghost of its original shape.  
  
"Tough little building," Tifa commented, walking up beside the Turk.  
  
"Mm-hm," Elena nodded in response to the woman's observation, impatiently pushing her blond hair away from her face as raindrops sank into the flaxen strands. The clouds were still belching forth torrents of needle-sharp droplets, showing no signs of stopping either.  
  
A few in feet in front of them, Rude turned around to face the others, water coursing down in his dark skin in little shimmering beads. "This building once had three floors, but most of the structure that remains is now severely unstable. We have to watch where we step."  
  
"We probably won't be going onto the upper floors," Cloud spoke up, absently adjusting his gloves. "If there is a secret exit in this building, I'm betting it's close to the ground, basement perhaps."  
  
"Yeah, and that basement is probably filled with all kinds of wood and plaster and crap," Barret said grumpily.  
  
Cloud shook his head, strands of blonde hair falling across his face. "The Running Man wouldn't come if he knew his exit was cut off. Besides, this is all we have to go on. But I feel we're close." He gazed up at the building. "Very close."  
  
And as they began moving is a loose group towards the dilapidated entrance of the building, Elena had to admit that she thought they were close to something as well. The building - with its shattered windows and chunks of missing walls - seemed to look down at them smugly, as if it had secrets that it had guarded carefully for a very long time. It stood there stubbornly, daring the intruders to discover that which had remained hidden for years and years.  
  
The interior of the building was no prettier than the outside and infinitely more frightening. The darkness was thick and close, the shadows wrapping around them like ghosts made solid. Elena could barely see a thing; the only time the ravaged room was fully visible was when a flash of lightening would blaze outside one of the broken windows. She would try and memorize every detail that she could, but when darkness plunged again, she magically seemed to forget everything she had seen.  
  
//I can't keep going like this// she thought. Rustling sounds in front of her indicated that the others were already moving further into the room. Elena experienced a brief moment of panic, not wanting to be left behind.  
  
Taking two baby steps forward, she shot out her left arm, groping blindly in the darkness. Her hand closed on something soft that suddenly when rigid in her forceful grasp.  
  
"Who's there?" Elena whispered.  
  
"Tifa," a voice whispered back, the muscles in what had to be her arm relaxing. Elena felt a gloved hand come up to grip her elbow, reassurance that she wasn't alone in the darkness.  
  
"Can you see anything?" Elena asked her companion.  
  
"No," Tifa said, on the verge of nervous laughter.  
  
Something shifted at Elena's feet, and she nearly drew her gun before she recognized the golden eye staring up at her.  
  
"Follow me," Red XIII said calmly. The dull flame on the end of his tail glowed in the darkness, his eye glinting in the light.  
  
Elena knew better than to argue. "Fine, but you'd better not let us walk into a hole or something."  
  
Rumbling laughter issued from Red's throat. "Wouldn't dream of it."  
  
Despite his assurance, however, Elena still had reserves about following *anyone* blindly through pitch darkness. She trusted Red to a great extent, but still, she would have rather been able to see with her own eyes what lay around her. She kept her grip on Tifa's arm, solid assurance that she wasn't the only one who would be shooting blind if worse came to worst.  
  
Being that she might as well have had no eyes in such darkness, Elena hadn't any idea how long they moved through the room. Every once in a while, lightening would flash outside, and she would be able to see long enough to identify the figures of Cloud and Rude at the head of the group, with Barret and Cid following close behind. Red, the only one present with complete night vision, was guiding Elena and Tifa. The Turk experienced a moment of displeasure when she thought it was only her and Tifa having trouble navigating in the darkness, but every time she heard a crash and muffled curse, she was alerted to the cheerful reality that the others were tripping over things in the dark as well. Silly, but comforting.  
  
She kept her eyes trained on the flaming end of Red's tail, realizing that he could probably control whether or not he wanted it to glow. Pretty neat trick, actually. The glow moved in a swaying motion as Red walked, and Elena followed it obediently. When it suddenly stopped moving, she did too, pulling Tifa to a halt.  
  
"What is it?" Elena whispered, glancing around the room. There was a large window - or at least a very large hole where the window had been - that allowed a bit of light through; consequently, she could actually see shadowy outlines of Rude and the others in the darkness.  
  
"Red?" Cloud's voice drifted from the darkness, sounding puzzled.  
  
"I saw someone," Red said in a low voice.  
  
Elena's heart leapt into her throat, and she unintentionally tightened her grip on Tifa's arm, her free hand dipping into her suit jacket and pulling out her gun.  
  
"Where were they?" Cloud asked.  
  
"I saw their shadow," Red replied. "Off to the far left side of the room. Probably going onto one of the upper levels."  
  
"Are there any stairs?"  
  
"I'm assuming there are."  
  
"Okay," Cloud said. "Rude and Barret, you come with me upstairs. The rest of you stay down here and keep a close lookout. There may be more of them."  
  
"You're only taking two of us?" Elena asked. She really didn't want to stay on the bottom level in pitch darkness. Any place was probably better than here.  
  
"We're going up the stairwell," Cloud answered. "Fighting is such narrow space is virtually impossible with so many people. Rude and Barret both have long-range weapons so we won't have to get up close and personal with the enemy. It's as simple as that."  
  
Elena would have preferred him to leave the last remark out, but she knew that now wasn't the time to argue. She felt the three of them moving off into the darkness, towards the left side of the room. Tifa squeezed the Turk's arm in reassurance, but Elena wasn't so easily placated. Out of the seven of them, only two could see even remotely well in the darkness. Their forces had been cut in half, and she was standing in a cold, dark building waiting for monsters to come out and gobble her up. Needless to say, Elena was not a happy camper.  
  
Someone brushed past her, and she nearly screamed. "Who's there?!" she hissed, heart thundering in her chest.  
  
"Me," came Cid's gruff reply. She sensed him shuffling away.  
  
"What are you doing?" she demanded of him, using annoyance to disguise her fear.  
  
"Lookin' for lights," Cid replied. "There's gotta be a power switch somewhere down here. 'Course, it might be in the---ouch! Shit!"  
  
"There's a crate over there," Red warned belatedly.  
  
"Thanks for telling me," Cid said sarcastically.  
  
"Hey, Red?" Elena spoke up meekly.  
  
A golden eye suddenly seemed to appear in the darkness below her. "Yes?"  
  
"You'll tell us if any boogeymen come out of the shadows, right?"  
  
"I shall, but I'd advise you to put up your gun for now."  
  
Elena made a face. "Why?"  
  
"I was watching you. If you had twitched a little harder a few seconds ago, you would have shot Cid."  
  
Elena swallowed hard, tightening her grip on her gun. She didn't want to give up the only protective item she had on her. With the darkness robbing her of all vision, she felt utterly helpless. Sure, she knew Tifa was at her side, and she had a vague sense of Cid stumbling around close by, and Red she knew was in front of her, but other than that, there was nothing but shadows. She felt naked, a sensation she loathed.  
  
She stared into Red's one visible eye. "I'm trusting you, Red XIII." She slipped her gun back in her coat.  
  
He acknowledged her oddly formal statement with a single nod. He might have started to say something, but a loud crackling sound suddenly split the air. For a moment, Elena thought it might have been thunder, but once she heard the loud shouts that followed, she knew the cacophonous sound a few moments ago had to be…  
  
"Gunfire!" Cid rapped out. "Sounds like Barret."  
  
Elena drew in a sharp breath as the ceiling above them seemed to shudder with the roar of footsteps. She heard the loud barking of Rude's handgun, felt a blast of elemental energy that she had come to identify as magic. Looked like the others had found the Running Man.  
  
"They're on the floor above," Red said tersely. Cid was already running towards the stairs.  
  
"Wait, Cid!" Tifa cried. "Don't go up the stairs! You'll just be cannon fodder!"  
  
"My ass isn't waiting around for the goddamn enemy to come to me!" Cid snapped, voice already getting distant.  
  
Red let out a low snarl, and over the pounding of her own heart, Elena sensed his ambivalence. He wanted to go help the others, but he couldn't just abandon her and Tifa. Elena could sympathize with him, but only to a certain degree. She desperately wished she could go and fight beside Rude, but knew she would only get in the way. (Seemed like all she was good for these days). Red, on the other hand…  
  
"Go after them!" she told Red. "Tifa and I will be fine."  
  
//At least I hope we will// she added silently, trying to put on a brave front.  
  
Red hesitated just for moment, but it was enough to make Elena pounce on him. "What? Do you think we can't protect ourselves since we're poor defenseless WOMEN?"  
  
"You know it's not that, Elena," Red deadpanned.  
  
"Then what are you waiting for?" she demanded, as the gunfire intensified above. "They need your help."  
  
This time there was no hesitation. "You two be careful," Red urged softly, then raced off.  
  
Elena swallowed hard and gripped Tifa's arm tighter. She suddenly felt very alone. "Well…what do we do now?"  
  
"I want to fight with them," the other woman confessed quietly. "But I can't see a thing, and it sounds like they're having a hard enough time up there as it is."  
  
"Even though there's five of them and only one of him," Elena added darkly. What kind of fighter was the Running Man that made him capable of holding up under such odds?  
  
"Let's find another way up," Tifa suddenly suggested. "We can get the drop on the enemy, maybe."  
  
Elena turned to stare at the space beside her that the martial artist had to occupy. "You want us to just stumble around blindly in the darkness until we find another set of stairs or something?"  
  
"No, I have an idea," Tifa said, releasing her grip on Elena's arm. Her boots thudded on the concrete as she took a couple of steps away. She was quiet for a long while, and Elena was about to ask what the hell she was doing when a spark of light suddenly flared in the place where Tifa was standing. Elena caught her breath as she watched the light grow in intensity, illuminating Tifa's gloved, cupped hands, bathing in them hues of ruby and yellow. The light danced over the brunette's upper body; the white tank top was turned into a hard-edged shade of yellow, and it was only then that she realized Tifa was holding Fire in her hands.  
  
"What are you doing?" Elena asked in alarm, stumbling back a couple of steps.   
  
"Calling Fire," Tifa whispered, her eyes closed as the growing flame burned away the shadows. "We can use it as a light source, but I don't know how long I can let it build before I have attack…so try and find something before then."  
  
Elena nodded firmly and backed away from Tifa and the orb of fire. Feeling that searing elemental energy building in the woman's very hands filled Elena with a sense of urgency that the gunfire on the floor above only quickened. She cast a worried glance at Tifa before looking feverishly into the semi-darkness. The fire bathed everything in a red, hellish glow, but it was so much better than the unbroken blackness of moments before. Elena's eyes roved over endless piles of crates, walls of plaster and concrete, the ceiling composed of only so many metal beams, but she didn't see anything that looked as if it could lead upstairs.  
  
//Goddammit!// she cursed silently. //There has to be something!//  
  
The fiery light behind her suddenly flared, and she was about to turn around and see if Tifa was alright when she noticed something the abrupt burst of light had revealed. The room they were in was actually two rooms, only most of the wall splitting it had been knocked down at some point or the other, making its dimensions less noticeable. Surely there had to be stairs in the next section!  
  
Elena turned to look at Tifa and was stunned to see that the woman had lifted her arms straight above her head, trembling with the effort to contain the raging Fire energy in the rapidly growing sphere, which was almost big around as Cait's moogle now.  
  
"Hang on, Tifa!" she cried desperately. The other woman nodded stiffly, sweat rolling down her face as the fire continued to churn above her uplifted hands.   
  
Elena rushed to what was left of the wall and rounded the corner, only to let out a startled gasp at what she found. She stumbled to a stop, barely managing to keep her balance.  
  
A woman stood in front of her. Elena nearly drew her gun, but then silently laughed at her own stupidity. Everything about the woman, from the narrowness of her shoulders to the immaculate perfection of her gilded fingernails, screamed vulnerability and utter femininity. The woman was small and slender, and probably would have been about five feet tall if she hadn't been wearing ridiculous heels that added a good number of inches to her height. Ludicrous! What experienced woman fighter wore heels in battle? (Elena conveniently forgot that she was wearing heels, too.) A waterfall of disheveled chocolate brown locks cascaded onto the shoulders of the woman's leather bodysuit, which fit her like a second skin and was cut low enough to reveal a great deal of cleavage. The woman's face was clearly Wutainese, with almond-shaped brown eyes and full lips. Her face was also fiercely beautiful despite the fact that dirt marred the flawless skin here and there, and once Elena saw this, her dislike of the woman leapt another ten notches.  
  
And naturally, since fate was a cruel thing, the stairs were right behind the woman.   
  
//Damn, just my rotten luck.//  
  
Elena tugged at the bottom of her tattered suit jacket, trying to get her face as inanimate as Rude's. "Get the hell out of my way," she ordered firmly.  
  
The woman's delicate eyebrows immediately lifted in amusement, and her naturally red lips turned up into a sly smile. "You dare give *me* orders?" she chided in a mock-friendly tone. "Shouldn't us poor innocent girlies stick together?"  
  
Elena's brown eyes narrowed at the woman's mockery. "I said get out of my way," she repeated.  
  
//Don't know how much longer Tifa can hold out//  
  
The woman sniffed with disdain at Elena's rudeness, turning her short little nose up. "I can't believe *you're* a Turk," she said, her accented voice dripping with verbal poison. "It seems that they'll let anyone into the Turks these days. It's no wonder the once almighty Turks failed to prevent the fall of Shinra with worthless rookies like you in the group."  
  
Red-hot rage scorched Elena's heart and consumed her senses. How dare this woman insult her and the Turks! What did she know about how emotionally and morally taxing a Turk's job was?! This pretty little thing didn't look as if she would do anything that would mess up her hair or break one of her nails, much less have the devotion to deal with the things that Elena dealt with everyday. God, this wench was going to pay!  
  
"What makes you think you have the right to say such things?!" Elena raged, her brown eyes filled with angry fire as the woman continued to smile. "You don't know anything about me or the Turks, you stupid slut! Now move like I told you to!"  
  
The woman shook her pretty head with mock sadness and put her small hands on her perfectly shaped hips. "Tsk, tsk," she scolded. "Such language, my dear? You're spirited, but very rude. I don't tolerate rudeness, you know."  
  
"Oh, I quiver with fear!" Elena mocked, her heart pounding faster as she sensed an impending battle. The woman clearly wasn't moving anytime soon.  
  
The woman's Wutainese eyes narrowed dangerously. "You should, honey," she snarled. "You have no idea who you're dealing with."  
  
Elena rolled her eyes. This woman didn't look like she could punch her way out of a wet paper sack, much less pose a substantial threat to anyone. "Bring it on, bitch," Elena growled, as adrenaline pounded through her system, sharpening her reflexes and tensing her muscles.  
  
The woman shrugged good-naturedly. "You asked for it."  
  
With that, the woman reached behind her back and, to Elena's utter shock, pulled out a slim metal rod a little less than a foot long. For a moment, Elena almost laughed at the prospect of the woman attacking her with what looked like a fairy's magic wand, but then the woman's slender fingers danced over the handle of the rod, and about another foot of metal shot out of nowhere, creating a harmless looking piece of dull gold into an electric nightstick of menacing length. [1] Though it was standard size for most nightsticks - three segments, two of which were retractable - what really made the cold sweat break out on Elena's forehead was that the end of the nightstick that discharged electricity didn't look like anything Elena had every seen before.   
  
Instead of an open hole that spewed about electricity, there were two wickedly sharp spike things that glittered in the dim light. It looked more like a cattle prod than a nightstick. Light gleamed tauntingly off of its metal surface, laughing at Elena's overconfidence in her superiority to this woman. The mysterious stranger twirled the nightstick deftly with one hand, and Elena began thinking she had bitten off more than she could chew. The only other person she had seen handle a nightstick that artfully was Reno…  
  
But she wasn't about to be frightened by this woman! Just because she could spin the nightstick a couple of times didn't mean that she knew how to use it. Right now the woman was just being an ostentatious show-off, and Elena immediately took advantage of that.  
  
Moving as quickly as she could, Elena lunged towards the woman with her left fist on a collision course with her opponent's pretty face. Like all Turks, Elena was trained in all types of combat with various types of weapons. Though she usually used her gun in battles, Elena was a fair fighter when came to martial arts. The more complex moves that Tifa and Yuffie used eluded her, but even Reno had admitted that in hand-to-hand combat, Elena could pack quite a punch if her opponent was less skilled than she was. And certainly this woman had never done anything that would endanger her perfect façade so Elena thought that her rival would be an easy kill.  
  
She was wrong.  
  
Just as Elena's well-aimed punch was about to strike home and shatter all the bones in the woman's pretty little nose, the Wutainese lady suddenly pivoted to the left faster than Elena's eye could track. Shock registered on the Turk's senses as she felt her punch strike nothing but air. She was still trying to contemplate what had just happened when she felt the woman's nightstick slam into the back of her skull hard enough to send her stumbling to a halt a few feet away. For a moment, Elena saw stars, but the sensation quickly faded as rage boiled her blood. She knew from practice sessions with Reno that the blow she had just been given was often called the "warning blow," which was meant to embarrass the opponent more than it was to hurt them.   
  
Elena was plenty embarrassed, but she was also plenty pissed. Still, she had enough of her wits about her to realize that she only had to take two steps, and she would be able to race up the stairs and join her comrades in battle. But then she thought of Tifa, standing alone in the room, concentrating on holding the fireball and not burning the place down. Elena didn't know if she was ready to consider Tifa a friend or not, but she refused to simply abandon her.  
  
Her decision only took a second, but that was a second too long. Elena recovered her balance and whirled, sending a kick flying at the spot she believed the woman to be, but like her fist before, her kick struck nothing but empty air.  
  
"What a rookie you are," the woman mocked from where she was standing a good ways away from Elena. The petite creature was certainly faster than she looked. Good for her, because Elena knew that if her kick had connected, the woman would have been in a world of hurt.  
  
But at the moment she was smug and safe with her nightstick held expertly in one hand. The filtered light from Tifa's great ball of fire illuminated strands of her hair and danced on the shiny leather of her bodysuit, looking like someone had poured molten lava on the curve of her shoulders.  
  
Elena held her ground, trying desperately to devise some sort of strategy for fighting this woman. Assuming that the Running Man was upstairs with the others, it would be a bad idea just to race upstairs blindly and possibly end up sandwiched between her two enemies if the woman decided to give chase. Of course, the woman could always choose to go after the semi-helpless Tifa in the other room, who was occupied with her…  
  
//That's it! The fireball!//  
  
"How's this for rookie?" Elena boasted with deliberate childishness before she rushed the woman, sending another kick flying at her head.  
  
There was a brief peal of high-pitched laughter, a whoosh of wind as Elena's kick missed again, and then unimaginable agony as she felt the two prongs of the woman's nightstick bury themselves in her side. It was just a grazing shot, but the searing pain that raced along her nerve endings was excruciating. She had been shocked by Reno's nightstick before, and it was nothing like this. Just what level of electricity was this thing turned on?!  
  
The only thing that saved her from being knocked unconscious was the fact that she was airborne when the prongs nicked her side; therefore, she didn't receive the full brunt of the voltage. Still, blackness was threatening to swallow her vision when the impact of her body hitting the ground literally knocked awareness back into her. She instinctively rolled, and felt the woman's boot lash through the space behind her.  
  
Strangely enough, it wasn't the pain in her side or the coldness of the concrete that merited most of Elena's attention as she kept rolling along the floor. It was the satisfying sound of the woman's boots scurrying after her that she focused all her being on, praying those blessed thuds wouldn't stop.  
  
A blast of fiery - not electrical - heat suddenly crawled over her skin like the warm glow of a blush, and Elena knew she had made it back into the room with Tifa and her fireball. And the boots were still coming. Perfect.  
  
"Tifa!" she was already calling as she lurched blindly to her feet. "Over here! Attack now!" The room was spinning, but she could see well enough to register one clear image of a trembling Tifa doubled over with the effort of holding the blindingly intense, massive orb of fire in the air above her head. The thing had swelled so large that it seemed ready to outgrow the room.  
  
"Elena, get down!" Tifa screamed, sweat dripping off her chin.  
  
The Turk didn't ask questions. She hit the floor, pressing her body flush against the fire-warmed concrete and willing herself to disappear into it.  
  
A flaming storm of fire suddenly roared past her prostrate figure, and Elena shut her eyes tightly against the blinding light. The skin on the back of her hands screamed in pain, as if a colony of fire ants had been released onto her body and was in the process of devouring her flesh. Someone behind her was screaming, and the sounds of twisting metal and falling debris rose to join the all-too-human cries of pain.  
  
Then the heat was gone, and though the concrete beneath her was still hot to the touch, Elena knew the fireball had fulfilled its purpose; there were no more screams.  
  
A hand touched her back, shaking her gingerly. "Elena!" Tifa voice came. "Are you alright?"  
  
"Yeah," the Turk said weakly, opening her eyes and rising to her knees. The back of her hands stung, and she looked down to see the skin was red and angry, much like how her skin got when she went to the beach without sunblock. One side of her face was tingling, and she suspected that she had minor burns on that area as well.  
  
However, her slight aches and pains were nothing compared to what she saw when she turned to stare at the aftermath left by Tifa's overgrown fireball. The thing had blown away the entire wall, leaving smoking and smoldering heaps of debris in its place. Minor fires had broken out all around the entire area, and though some part of Elena's mind told her that the fires were bad and might spread to the rest of the building, she was more grateful for the scant amount of light that they lent to the room. And sprawled right in the center of the debris was the unconscious figure of Elena's assailant.  
  
"Is she dead?" Elena asked softly.  
  
Tifa shook her head, wiping the sweat off her forehead. "No. Either her level of Spirit is very high, or she had some kind of Fire protection her. The force of the blast knocked her out, but her burns are only superficial, it seems."  
  
Elena made a sour face. "Great. She gets hit dead on by a fireball and only gets a few burns. That thing would have blown me to bits!"  
  
Tifa smiled wearily. "Same here." She cast a glance at the ceiling, no doubt thinking of the others. "I'm drained for the moment so you'd better go on ahead. I'll make sure our little friend isn't going to be getting up and going after you."  
  
Nodding quickly, Elena got to her feet, tottering slightly before recovering her balance. A few feet away from her, a board from one of the crates had caught on fire, but for some reason, only the end of it was burning. Elena lifted it out of the pile before the flames could spread to the rest of the wood, intending to use the flaming board as a torch.  
  
"Make sure you take her nightstick!" Elena warned as she rushed off towards the stairs. "That thing hurts like hell!"  
  
"Will do!" Tifa called. "Be careful!"  
  
Elena ran around the corner, wincing at the painful twinge in her still-injured ankle. She held the torch in front and slightly to the side of her, using it to light her way. Her right hand dipped into her jacket and pulled out her gun, holding it at the ready as she climbed the dark stairs, listening carefully for any sounds on the next floor. There were none, and that could only mean one thing: someone - either her friends or the Running Man - had won the battle. Unless, of course, she was going to walk right into a stalemate and cause a minor catastrophe with her mere presence. But she couldn't just stand by and do nothing. If the Running Man had killed Rude or any of the others, he was going to pay for his sins with his life. Elena would make sure of that.  
  
She reached the entrance to the second floor and was dismayed to find that the stairwell narrowed out so that she would have no cover if shots were fired. There was also no door (aka makeshift shield) to help her along.  
  
//Great. Just me, myself, and my gun.//  
  
Taking a deep breath, Elena crept up to the eerily silent doorway and shoved the makeshift torch over the threshold first, waving it around as if dusting the air beyond. If the Running Man had a gun, she would much rather him shoot the torch than her arm.  
  
Fortunately, no bullets were fired, but a wry voice said, "Come on out, Elena. We know you're there."  
  
//Cid…thank God!//  
  
Elena stepped warily through the door to find all her friends standing about the room, unscathed.  
  
"How did you know it was me?" she demanded, trying to ignore how happy she was see Cloud and the others as well as Rude. She REALLY didn't want to become friends with AVALANCHE, but it seemed as if she couldn't help herself.  
  
"Those clunky shoes of yours," Cid replied, gesturing to her heels with his Venus Gospel. "They just scream ELENA."  
  
"Very observant. Pat yourself on the back, Cid," Elena said with a smile, only half-mocking.  
  
Cloud suddenly stood up from where had had been crouched amongst some crates. "Elena, bring the torch over here, please."  
  
It was the 'please' that did it. "Sure thing," she said, happy to hear him being polite. It was a welcome sensation after Reno's perpetual crudeness and Rude's monotonous one-word replies.  
  
Her happiness turned to shock, however, when she saw the reason he had called her over. Lying in a small, claustrophobic space between two large crates was a young man dressed in dark clothing. His hair must have been some pale shade, but the torchlight turned the strands a rather intriguing orange color. His features were strong and graceful, cruel somehow, and even with his eyes closed, Elena could tell he was a handsome man. There were what looked to be two materia orbs embedded in the backs of his hands, and a small trickle of blood ran from his temple to the curve of his jaw.  
  
Elena whispered, "Is this…the Running Man?"  
  
Cloud nodded, the Ultima Weapon naked in his hand. "Yeah."  
  
Elena's grip on her gun tightened. "How did you…I mean how…?"  
  
"How did we kick his ass?" Barret asked. He had his gun arm trained on the man's unconscious figure, a tense, battle-ready Red XIII at his side.  
  
Elena nodded mutely. So this was the notorious Running Man she had heard so much about…  
  
"Rude took him down," Cid spoke up, sounding amused for some reason. "He headbutted the bastard. Finally put that bald head of his to some good use."  
  
Surprised, Elena looked around the room and saw Rude standing calmly near the entrance of the original staircase, his green eyes devoid of their sunglasses and glittering in the torchlight. He looked as calm and collected as ever.  
  
She couldn't help the smile that came to her face. "Well, Mr. Rude, what do you have to say for yourself?"  
  
Rude put a large hand to his head. "Ouch."  
  
~owari ch. 29  
  
[1] Now everyone knows what weapon Fa-Li uses. ^^  
  
The only thing worse than battle scenes are battle chapters. -_- There was supposed to be more to this chapter, but it was already getting too long so I had to stick it in the next one. Until then, minna-san! ^_^  
  
Next…  
"Sink to the Bottom With You Ch. 30"  
Old Wounds 


	32. Old Wounds

Sink to the Bottom With You  
Chapter 30: Old Wounds  
"But I'd be much obliged if you'd take your sense of humor elsewhere." Vincent Valentine  
  
Come into these arms again  
And lay your body down  
For 'tis the rhythm of this trembling heart  
Is beating like a drum.  
It beats for you, it bleeds for you  
It knows not how it sounds.  
For it is the drum of drums  
It is the song of songs.  
  
"Love Song For a Vampire"  
Annie Lennox  
  
Vincent sat in a chair beside Yuffie's bed, cleaning the Outsider absently with a rag Kyra had given him and trying not to look at the clock that hung on the wall just above the bed's headboard. His friends had been gone a long time, and in spite of himself, he was starting to worry a bit. He knew all of them were dead tired and running low on stamina. Even Cloud had been unconsciously dragging his feet as they piled into the van and drove off.  
  
Sighing internally, Vincent lifted the end of his borrowed shirt and replaced the handgun back in its holster, folding the rag and setting it on the lampstand next to the bed. His arm felt strangely heavy, and he knew it was a telltale sign of fatigue that he hadn't felt in years. How long had it been since he had last slept? If memory served him correctly, it had been with Yuffie in the hotel three days ago, unless he counted the fitful, nightmare-ridden periods of unconsciousness over the last three days. Normally, Vincent could go quite a while without sleep, but their recent endeavors had been rather…taxing to say the least.  
  
Unfortunately, now that he had actually acknowledged the fact that he was tired, sleep kept trying to make his eyelids heavier than normal. He contemplated getting up and walking around, but he knew that if he started, he would just end up pacing back and forth, worrying about Cloud and others and glancing at the small figure buried underneath the covers in the bed.  
  
Vincent was glad to see that Yuffie was finally getting better. Holding her feverish body in his arms all the way to Junon had shaken him more than he was willing to admit, and even when she woke up, he could tell that the fever had not quite run its course yet. In fact, her overexcitement when she realized her state of undress had probably caused her to have a relapse quicker than normal. What caused her strange "illness" in the first place was still in question, and Vincent wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to know the answer. The Hissers had done something severely traumatic that had disturbed even a tough man like Cid Highwind. Had they done the same thing to Yuffie? Or worse?  
  
Carefully, he reached out and grazed Yuffie's cheek with his fingertips, unable to wonder if his happiness at seeing her alive and well had been premature. Accident victims sometimes didn't realize they had life threatening injuries until several days after the accident had occurred. He was afraid that Yuffie might have not physical, but mental or emotional damage, and unless they knew what had happened down there in that place between heaven and hell, no one would be able to help her.  
  
Vincent withdrew his hand sharply. //You're worrying too much// he told himself cruelly, as if trying to frighten away the timid emotions that had been to tentatively rear their heads, cautious creatures peering out to see if the cold, brutal winter was over and wondering if spring had finally arrived.  
  
Folding his arms across his chest, he sank back into the chair, the wood digging into his spine as his eyes drifted almost unwillingly to where Yuffie was slumbering in relative peace. He couldn't recall the last time he had ever just sat and watched someone sleep. He never did so because he felt like an intruder when he watched someone in their moment of rest, when they were at their most helpless. Strangely enough, sleep didn't make Yuffie look any more youthful than she already appeared. If anything, she looked a bit older, a bit more mature than she did when she was awake. Just went to show that there was a woman hiding underneath the ninja's naiveté.  
  
The door to the bedroom suddenly creaked open, and Reno poked his head in, glancing at Vincent with undisguised wariness in his aquamarine eyes, as if he weren't sure if he was welcome in the room or not. Vincent met his gaze indifferently, eyes and face betraying nothing. Reno shrugged and entered the room, shutting the door quietly behind him before sprawling his long frame into the chair on the other side of Yuffie's bed.  
  
There was a brief moment of silence, and then Reno asked, "How long has it been now?"  
  
"Two hours and forty-five minutes," Vincent replied.  
  
Reno looked at him in surprise. "So you've been counting, too, eh?"  
  
"Yes," the other man said calmly. "Where is Cait Sith?"  
  
An annoyed look crossed Reno's face. "Downstairs chatting it up with Kyra. She'd rather talk to the robotic cat than to me."  
  
"She seems to honestly dislike you."  
  
"I KNOW that. Thank you for reminding me."  
  
Vincent didn't even bother replying. Sarcasm was, in his opinion, only to be answered if one had sarcasm to give in return. And Vincent was one man who was pretty much sarcasm-less so he let the silence fall like a thick blanket of snow, broken only by the thudding of raindrops against the restaurant's walls. Faintly, he could hear the voices of Kyra and Cait downstairs, and it provided him with a small bit of comfort to know that at least they were safe.  
  
"Where did I go wrong?" Reno suddenly asked quietly.  
  
Vincent looked up in surprise to find an odd, pensive look on the Turk's face, aquamarine eyes misted as they stared up at the ceiling. "What do you mean?"  
  
"C'mon, Valentine," Reno urged with a touch of impatience in his voice. "You used to be Turk, didn't you?"  
  
Vincent just stared at him, not liking where the conversation was heading. His dark past had never been one of his favorite topics of discussion.  
  
"Then, tell me," Reno continued. "What's wrong with me? Why aren't my unstintingly loyal Turks following my orders? Why do they keep leaving me behind? Why am I losing control of them?" There was barely restrained frustration in his tone, a strange inflexion that for some reason made it seem as if Reno was bordering on panic.  
  
Vincent lifted an eyebrow. "You're asking me?"  
  
Reno's eyes were intense, the dark scars on his cheekbones standing out on his pale face. "What do you think of me, Valentine? Am I a leader? Why do Rude and Elena keep acting on their own?"  
  
"These questions will get you nowhere Reno. I'm not the person to ask."  
  
"I think you're JUST the person to ask. You follow Cloud. Why?"  
  
"You're upset at being left behind, Reno. Take it up with Rude and Elena when they return."  
  
Reno leaned forward determinedly in his chair, damp ponytail falling over his shoulder. "If you were still a Turk and I was your leader, would you follow me?"  
  
Vincent resisted the urge to sigh. Reno was nothing if not persistent. "I can't answer that question, Reno, due to the fact that I'm nearly three times your age-"  
  
//three times Yuffie's age for that matter//  
  
"-and I see you as youthfully impertinent. You're from an entirely different generation than I am."  
  
Reno opened his mouth.  
  
"And to answer your question," Vincent cut in. "Yes, I would follow you, but only because I had to. It's what Turks do: never question orders."  
  
"Exactly! So what the hell do Rude and Elena think they're doing now?"  
  
Vincent folded his arms across his chest. "Do you really want the answer?"  
  
"I wouldn't have come in here if I wasn't prepared."  
  
"It's simple. They're torn between two leaders: you and Cloud." Vincent stared Reno in the eye. "But this you already know, right?"  
  
Reno nodded. "Yeah, but Cloud told me that his only purpose is to bring AVALANCHE together. You think for yourselves."  
  
"Of course we do. He's not our master, just our leader. We trust him to make good decisions. We trust him to think things through completely before acting. We trust him with our lives." He gave the Turk a deep look. "And since you're prepared for anything I have to say, I have no qualms in telling you that Cloud's leadership abilities clearly overshadow yours."  
  
Reno's face darkened.  
  
"You know what I say is true. Even the ever headstrong Elena is starting to take orders from him more easily."  
  
"Are you saying Rude and Elena don't trust me?" Reno snapped. "Are you saying they'd rather follow Cloud than follow me?"  
  
Vincent shook his head, some of his midnight black hair falling over his eyes. "No, they would follow you into hell itself, not because you're their leader, but because you're their friend."  
  
The surprise on Reno's face was evident. The angry light in his eyes died abruptly.  
  
"Surely you consider them your friends as well?" Vincent asked shrewdly.  
  
Reno was taken aback. "Of course I do. They're the only friends I have."  
  
"They'll follow you, Reno. They'll die for you. And right now part of what they're doing is trying to protect you. You've been in emotional distress recently, and they're trying to keep you from having a breakdown."  
  
"By leaving me out of the action?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Reno slumped in his chair, looking overwhelmed. "Well, shit, this is all too damn much for me. Anything else you want to add before my brain overloads?"  
  
"Do you have any more bothersome questions?"  
  
Reno's face was serious. "Yeah, I do, actually. What do you think of the Turks now, Vincent?"  
  
Crimson eyes stared the man right in the face. "The Turks are a dead organization, Reno. They fell alongside Shinra. All you carry now is their name. Under Reeve, the Turks have an entirely different purpose, and that purpose is no longer a foul, amoral one."  
  
Reno was staring at him as if he had sprouted another head. "Geez, Valentine, you sure can talk a lot when you want to. Is your mouth sore? Do you need a glass of water?"  
  
"No," Vincent said calmly. "But I'd be much obliged if you'd take your sense of humor elsewhere."  
  
Reno laughed, not in the least bit offended as he rose from his chair and stretched languidly. "Fine, fine." He glanced down at where Yuffie was sleeping. "Is she gonna be okay?"  
  
Vincent nodded. "It seems like it."  
  
"Well, isn't that good to hear," Reno commented, sauntering towards the door. "If you need me, my lazy ass will be asleep down the hall. And try and get some rest, Valentine. You're looking a little pale." He laughed at his own joke and slipped out of the room, leaving Vincent frowning at the closed door.  
  
//Quite a character, that one// he thought.  
  
A sigh escaped his lips as he finally gave into his fatigue and slouched in the chair. It seemed logical that, after three days, he should be getting some sleep, but he wouldn't forgive himself if something happened to Yuffie or one of his friends when he was immersed in his world of perpetual nightmares. Despite his resolve not to fall asleep, Vincent found himself dozing slightly in the uncomfortable chair, hovering in a world somewhere between reality and dream.  
  
When he managed to rouse himself, Yuffie was wide awake and staring at him with dark, haunted eyes.  
  
//Her illness is gone// he thought with absolute conviction as he straightened in his chair. True, the brightness of the fever had dissipated from the stormy depths of her eyes, but it seemed to have taken something with it. The prominent flash and shine that he had come to associate with Yuffie was dimmed slightly, and he knew it had something to do with the memories of her kidnapping and the events that occurred beneath the earth. In those gray eyes, he saw the dark remnants of unimaginable horrors.  
  
"You're awake," he said softly, leaning forward slightly to peer down at her face, which was the only thing poking out of the blankets.  
  
She merely nodded, eyes a bit wide.  
  
"Are you feeling alright?" Vincent asked.  
  
"I'm…okay, I guess," she said quietly. "Did I…have a relapse or something?"  
  
"Yes, you did," Vincent answered, rising from his chair and turning to retrieve the forgotten clothes Kyra had offered before Yuffie fainted. The look in her eyes was irking him. He'd seen rape victims with those kinds of eyes.  
  
//Did they…to Yuffie? I'll kill them if they did. I'll do more than kill them.//  
  
He picked up the clothes with his right arm, not trusting himself not to shred the garments with his claw in his sudden anger. When he thought of anyone touching Yuffie, defiling her, he felt a deep rage, viscous and boiling, in his soul. That was bad. Rage fed the demons, just as surely as sorrow and bitterness and self-loathing did. He didn't need to be kindling the flames of damnation with any new emotions.  
  
There was a brief rustling behind him as Yuffie rose to a sitting position, clutching the blankets protectively to her chest. Vincent turned to see her touching her own forehead with her palm. "I don't think I have a fever any more," she said, and he heard that beloved cheerful tone trying to come back into her voice.  
  
"You don't," Vincent said matter-of-factly. "Whatever illness you had is gone now."  
  
"I feel…dirty," Yuffie suddenly confessed, staring hard at her sheet-covered lap. She had her hands fisting in the blankets so tightly her knuckles were white. "I feel unclean, like I want to take a shower, but I know a shower won't help."  
  
The torn look in her eyes caused a deep pain to blossom in his chest. "I don't know exactly what happened down there, Yuffie, but I know…I must have been terrible."  
  
A bitter, hard-edged laugh suddenly erupted from her mouth. "Terrible?" she repeated. "TERRIBLE?! 'Terrible' doesn't even BEGIN to describe it! It was…I HATED it down there…" Her voice trailed off, and she turned away from him, shoulders shaking.  
  
Vincent just stood there, feeling helpless. He had never been good at comforting people, and despite what Tifa had said the other day about Yuffie finding comfort in his mere presence, a part of him still didn't believe it. If his presence was so bloody soothing, then why was Yuffie sitting not five feet away from him, holding a blanket up to her chest to cover her nakedness and tottering on the edge of a breakdown? Some comfort.  
  
"Gawd!" she suddenly cried, flopping back onto her pillow and covering her head with the sheet, drawing the cloth smooth and taut. "I'm about to cry," she said, voice muffled. "I HATE when I cry! I'm such a damn baby…"  
  
A strange sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh came from underneath the blanket, followed by dozens of others until Vincent truly wasn't sure if she was laughing giddily or sobbing hysterically underneath the cover of the sheets. His hand tightened on the clothes, holding them tighter against his chest as he stared down at the bed and girl beneath the covers who was trying not to allow her sanity to shatter into a million pieces.   
  
Vincent wanted to leave; he couldn't bear to see her like this, not when he was powerless to help her. Was he supposed to tell her everything was going to be okay? No, that would be a lie, and a big one, at that.   
  
Vincent had always hated it when people cried, especially females. With other males, he knew he didn't have to offer much comfort; the masculine defense mechanism would not allow them to accept comfort from another man, with the only exception being close friends. But women were a different story. Vincent had always tried to comfort Lucrecia when she wept…but that had been a long time ago. When he was only five years old, and his sisters were weeping - some hysterically, some quietly - over the brutal slaughter of their mother, he had patted their long dark hair with his tiny hands, wanting to protect them…but that had been a long time ago as well.  
  
And in the end, he couldn't protect anything. Lucrecia perished at the hands of a madman after bearing his devil-child. Vincent's sisters died trying to protect him, not the other way around. He had long ago accepted the fact that he had no comfort, no protection, no love, to offer anyone or anything.  
  
Or did he?  
  
//Yuffie…//  
  
Setting the bundle of clothes quietly on the lampstand, Vincent eased his weight onto the side of the bed, watching Yuffie's blanket-covered figure for any signs of discomfort. Her sobs/laughter had subsided sometime during his dark musings, and the only sound coming from underneath the covers was a soft weeping.  
  
Vincent carefully reached over and wrapped his human fingers around the edge of the sheet, gently pulling it back to reveal Yuffie's face. She offered him no resistance, letting the sheet slide from her fingers. He had expected her eyes to be closed, her face turned into the pillows, but instead those endless gray eyes were wide open, shimmering with tears that painted silver tracks down her face. Droplets glittered on the ends of her eyelashes, staining them a perfect shade of black.  
  
"Yuffie," he whispered, unable to say anything else. He only knew that he hated to see her cry.  
  
"I feel horrible!" she suddenly exclaimed, the words rushing from her mouth so quickly she nearly tumbled over them.  
  
"Why?"  
  
She was struggling to breathe; her sobs were suddenly choking her. "Because…because…for a long time…I didn't think you all were coming for me!" She stared him in the face, eyes overflowing with an endless stream of tears. "I thought you all were going to leave me down there! I was horrible, doubting you all! I doubted my friends. I'm so sorry, Vincent!"  
  
Vincent shook his head. "Yuffie, it's not your fault. You're alive, and that's all that matters."  
  
She swallowed visibly, making a valiant attempt to control her approaching hysteria. "My mind feels raw," she suddenly whispered feverishly, eyes wide. "I feel so dirty." Her voice broke on the last word.  
  
Vincent reached out and cradled her cheek, wiping away her tears with his callused fingers. Her eyes got just a touch wider, and she became still as he stroked her face softly. He suddenly felt as if he could fall into the shimmering, tear-stained depths of those heart-wrenching eyes. The sensation was so tangible that his stomach lurched slightly, as if he were really plummeting into those stormy gray orbs.  
  
"Vinnie!" Yuffie suddenly said. The word came out more forcefully than he had expected, causing him to jump slightly. Her hands suddenly were fisted in the front of his shirt, tugging him towards her. Vincent's heart skipped a beat when he thought that she was trying to pull him on top of her, but then her hands started scrabbling at his shoulders, and he realized she was only trying to hug him.  
  
That - now that he could do.  
  
Vincent leaned down and carefully slid his arms around Yuffie, making sure to keep the razor-sharp digits of his claw away from her tender skin. He drew her against him, and she slid her trembling arms around his neck, gripping with strength he hadn't thought a girl of her small frame could possess. Cheek pressed against her damp, feverish one, he held her tightly, but not without a certain gentleness. He was afraid she was going to break in his arms, but he also knew that she would not like him treating her like a baby. She certainly wasn't a child any longer.  
  
Yuffie's back shook with silent sobs, and Vincent drew her into a half-sitting position so he could better wrap his arms around her, his human hand resting on her back. The blanket had fallen off long ago, and she was clad only in the black undergarment that she had been so hasty to cover up the first time she had awakened. Consequently, he had no choice but to rest his ungloved hand on the bare skin of her back. Her skin was tender and warm, almost feverish from her lying on her back for such a long period of time. He looked at his own hand juxtaposed next to the flesh, noticing that the cloth of his borrowed shirt and the skin of his hand were almost the same ghostly white color. The light golden tan of her skin only made his hand look even paler.  
  
It was silly thing, but he just kept staring down at his hand against her gently heaving back, long fingers splayed across her soft skin. Something was happening inside of him. There was an ache in his chest that he didn't care to decipher. There was no time for such things now…  
  
//Maybe not ever. I can't let this happen. She's just a young girl still.//  
  
Eventually, Yuffie's tears ran dry, and she was quiet in his arms, head resting on his shoulder with her fingers buried in his long dark hair. She clung to him for a few seconds more, then slowly pulled back, wiping her face as she did so.  
  
"Sorry, Vinnie," she muttered ashamedly, sounding more like the Yuffie he knew. "Don't make fun of me because I'm a crybaby."  
  
Vincent sat back, folding his arms across his chest because he no longer knew what to do with them. "You've just been through a terrible ordeal, Yuffie," he said in what he hoped was a semi-soothing tone. "No one is going to fault you for crying."  
  
She gave him a watery smile. "Thanks, Vinnie."  
  
He nodded mutely, one corner of his mouth curling slightly. However, now that his emotions had been reigned in, he was now unhealthily aware of the fact that the sheets were all bunched around Yuffie's waist, and she was…showing a lot of skin.  
  
She apparently noticed it at the same time he did, for she snatched the blankets and held them in front of her like a shield. "Oops," she said sheepishly. "Didn't mean to flash you."  
  
Vincent almost said "That's okay" but stopped himself just in time, knowing that particular phrasing would have sounded awkward. Instead he just shrugged and stood, picking the bundle of clothes off the lampstand and handing them to Yuffie, who accepted them with one arm plastered to her chest to keep her sheet from falling.  
  
"Thank you for rescuing me, Vinnie," she suddenly said hurriedly, a minor eruption of words that had been pent up for a while.  
  
Vincent shook his head. "No need to thank me, Yuffie," he said softly. "It was…"  
  
//Something I had to do? No…that's not it. I didn't do just because I had to. I wanted to save her. I wanted to see her safe again.//  
  
He glanced down to see Yuffie staring up at him questioningly.  
  
"Nothing," he finished lamely, pushing his hair back from his face with his human hand.  
  
She frowned at him. "No fair, Vinnie. You can't give me popcorn without the butter."  
  
Vincent blinked, stumped by the odd phrasing until he managed to grasp the meaning. Then he looked down at the girl seated in her bed, and an affectionate smile came to his lips. It was a mere shadow of the full-fledged laughter that had came from his mouth a few hours before, but it was enough to bring an answering smile to Yuffie's face. The glow was starting to return to her eyes. She would heal. He was glad.  
  
"I'm going downstairs with the others," Vincent said. "You get dressed and join us as soon as you feel well enough."  
  
"Others?" Yuffie asked as Vincent moved away from her bed. "Is everyone still here?"  
  
Vincent turned back, shaking his head. "Only Reno, Cait Sith, and Kyra remain. The others went after the Running Man." He glanced at the clock above her head. "That was almost three hours ago."  
  
Yuffie's eyes widened, face beautifully expressive as it was before her abduction. "Gawd. Vinnie, that's a long time for them to be gone!"  
  
He could only nod grimly. "I know, but--"  
  
Vincent never got to finish his sentence because the thundering of footsteps could suddenly be heard coming up the stairs, heading in the direction of the bedroom. His hand instinctively flew to the butt of the Outsider, and he was turning towards the door just as Kyra came charging through, nearly spilling herself onto the floor in her haste. Her amber eyes were wide, her auburn hair tumbling around her pale face as she struggled for breath.  
  
She pointed down the hall with a shaky arm, words divided by loud gasps. "Your friends (gasp) downstairs (gasp) they have (gaspgasp) the Running Man!"  
  
~*~*~*~*  
  
They put the Running Man in the restaurant's damp, leaky cellar. For some reason that Cloud didn't want to know, Kyra had a pair of handcuffs in the cellar, and these were used to chain the unconscious man's wrists to one of the pipe's jutting out of the back wall of the cellar. The dark haired woman that Elena and Tifa had captured was tied to a chair using yards upon yards of rope, knotted haphazardly here and there. When Yuffie woke up, they were going to have to ask her to tie the woman up professional style.  
  
The whole operation seemed savage and evil somehow, chaining prisoners in dark cellars and such, and though Cloud had a feeling he was going to get his method of handling the situation thrown back in his face later on, he could see no other way to ensure the safety of his teammates. He had seen firsthand how inhumanly crafty and quick the Running Man was in open battle. The man had held his own against four highly trained human opponents and one quadruped with a beast's cunning and above-average intelligence.   
  
In the end of the battle, they had merely overwhelmed the Running Man with their sheer numbers, cornering him and then striking. Cloud wasn't eager to see how any of them would hold out in a one-on-one battle. As far as he knew, the Running Man hadn't even been armed when he fought against them in the abandoned building.  
  
Even now, unconscious and slumped against the wall, the Running Man still looked dangerous. Though he was quite a bit younger than Cloud had imagined, there was certain arrangement of his facial features that screamed for others to be wary of him. A permanent coldness, maybe. Either way, Cloud knew they wouldn't be able to take the Running Man lightly.  
  
Cloud leaned his weary body against the wall behind him, the Ultima Weapon in his hands, glowing faintly in the darkness. A small light bulb dangling from the ceiling illuminated the faces of his friends gathered in various corners of the room. No one had wanted to wait upstairs. *Everyone* wanted to look into the eyes Reeve's kidnapper when he woke up, a general mindset Cloud wasn't at all pleased with.  
  
They were all tired, weary, angry, on the edge and ready to snap. Cloud wasn't even sure if he trusted himself to question the Running Man without hurting him, much less any of the others. Cid was crouched in one corner of the cellar (defying Cloud's suggestion that he go wait upstairs with Kyra and Cait), brimming with instability and the trembling effort of holding it in. There was a haunted darkness in the man's blue eyes that made Cloud uncomfortable, but he was sure Cid was aware of the darkness' presence as well, and he was doing his best to reign it in.  
  
But in the event that he couldn't, Cloud had made sure Barret and Red XIII were both within grabbing distance of the man. Though it was obvious Red had to keep on eye on them both. Admittedly, Barret would stop Cid from doing something stupid, but he wouldn't be in the state of mind to stop himself from doing something of equal stupidity. The man already looked like he was ready to explode with anger, and the Running Man wasn't even awake yet.  
  
Rude had gone upstairs to get Reno, something Cloud was REALLY not looking forward to. It was kind of like setting a bull loose in a china shop. Cloud might be able to talk his friends down from an irrational rage, but Reno was always a dangerous, unknown factor. No one knew what could set him off.  
  
Tired though they were, Tifa and Elena each stood to one side of the bound woman, who was, unfortunately, awake and talking.  
  
"This absolutely senseless," she snapped, and Cloud winced at her nasal, accented voice. "Why do these broads need to stand guard? It's not like I'm GOING anywhere." She jerked on her ropes pointedly.  
  
"I'm not a broad," Tifa growled.  
  
"Me either," Elena echoed angrily. "So you'd best just shut your mouth, bitch."  
  
//God, not them too//  
  
"Cut it out, Elena," Cloud ordered sharply.  
  
Elena cut it out, but Cloud knew her obedience wasn't going to last long. As soon as Reno waltzed into the cellar, he had no problem guessing whose orders she would be following.  
  
The door at the top of the cellar creaked open, and Cloud held his breath when he saw a tall, lanky figure silhouetted against the dim light. It was only when the door shut behind the figure and darkness once again claimed the room that he was able to see the luminescent crimson eyes in all their horrible glory.  
  
"How's Yuffie?" Tifa asked immediately.  
  
"She's fine," Vincent said calmly as he descended the stairs without a sound. "She's getting dressed right now, and then she's coming down."  
  
Tifa frowned. "Do you think that's a good idea?"  
  
The two continued to converse, but Cloud tuned them out. His allies could handle and support each other (hopefully), and that meant he had to worry about their enemies. Since the Running Man was still slumped lifelessly against the wall, Cloud was left to study the mysterious woman in the leather bodysuit. She was watching Vincent very closely, eyes tracking his movements like a rabbit listening to the sounds of the predator lurking in the night. The woman was afraid of Vincent - that much was clear. The red eyes and pale skin had probably done it; this kind of reaction was typical of those meeting Vincent for the first time.  
  
Then the woman suddenly stiffened, back going ramrod straight in her chair. Her dark eyes widened until they appeared grotesquely large in a face that had suddenly been sucked of all its color. What the hell was wrong with her now?  
  
The door at the top of the cellar flew open as if hit by a strong wind, and Reno stormed into the dark room, talking angrily as Rude followed at his back like a sentinel.  
  
"-don't think I ain't angry with you because I sure as hell am," Reno was saying as he descended the stairs, aquamarine eyes roving the room.  
  
The woman let out a short, strangled noise, and Reno stopped short of her chair, staring down at her. The horrified woman stared back, as if enraptured by the man that stood barely five feet away from her. A stifling silence clamped down on the room; Cloud was surprised he couldn't hear his heartbeat echoing in the yawning void of sound. He had never heard a silence so complete and terrible as this one.  
  
Then Reno spoke in a horrified, strangled voice. "Alette?!"  
  
~owari ch. 30  
  
Thanks to Charles Xavier for recommending the song at the beginning.  
I am Evil embodied, I know, to leave you hanging like that. Sorry! Until next time…  
--Catalina, who was running on the last fumes of Inspiration towards the end of the chapter…  
  
Next…  
Sink to the Bottom With You Ch. 31  
The Point of No Return  
  
By the way, did EVERYONE know Fa-Li was really Alette? I tried to be sneaky, but mesa thinks I failed miserably. O_O 


	33. The Point of No Return

1.1.1.1.1.1.1 Alright, minna-san, this is my first time uploading in .doc format so sorry if there's any errors in the formatting. O_O  
  
1.1.1.1.1.1.2  
  
1.1.1.1.1.1.3 Sink to the Bottom With You Ch. 31:  
  
1.1.1.1.1.1.4 The Point of No Return  
  
1.1.2 "Are you in love with her?" Elena  
  
Put me in the hospital for nerves and then  
  
They had to commit me  
  
You told them all I was crazy  
  
They cut off my legs  
  
1.1.2.1 Now I'm an amputee, God damn you  
  
1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1 "Flagpole Sitta"  
  
Harvey Danger  
  
"Reeeno!" Tifa yelled, cupping her gloved hands around her mouth to help project the desperate sound of her voice into the rainy night. There was no reply to her cry, just like there had been none to all the dozens before it. Nothing but the cold, unforgiving skies and the thundering rain all around her, pounding ruthlessly down on the pavement, on her.  
  
"Anything?" Elena asked, rushing up to her side, blond hair and navy blue suit a sopping mass clinging to her petite frame.  
  
Tifa shook her head. "Nothing, but I want to look further down the street."  
  
Elena nodded, and the two women fell in side by side, their mostly night- blind eyes searching through the darkness for a hint of red hair, the flash of a white shirt, the glow of a pair of aquamarine eyes. Anything. But all that deigned to appear before them was seemingly endless amounts of pavement glistening with rain and dark alleyways gaping like open mouths. Upper Junon was a big, complex area, and Reno had run off somewhere into the thick of it after the horrible revelation back in the cellar of Kyra's restaurant.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Then Reno spoke in a horrified, strangled voice. "Alette?!"  
  
The woman didn't respond, but recognition flashed in her dark, terrified eyes, just as tangible as if she had answered him out loud.  
  
//Alette?// Tifa wondered in horror. //No…his ex-wife…the one who killed Mika…//  
  
Reno's next moves were so fast that only Vincent and Red, with their unnatural reflexes, were quick enough to intervene.  
  
As Reno leapt forward with murder in his flashing eyes, Vincent lunged and grabbed the man's shoulders, trying to wrestle him to the ground. Red XIII shot across the room, purposefully tangling himself in Reno's legs so that all three of them – Reno, Red, and Vincent – hit the ground with painful thuds, turning into one massive, struggling heap.  
  
Reno was screaming, the most horrible sound Tifa had ever heard in her entire life. She hadn't even known human beings were capable of making such a heart-wrenching noise – part wail, part shriek, part yell. So many emotions wound up into that scream that she felt something in her heart wanted to collapse under the sheer force of it. The Turk was fighting with all his might to be free of Vincent and Red's grasps, his arms and legs flailing violently. There was a flash of blood red that might have been Reno's hair, Red's fur, or Vincent's eyes, but other than that, her three friends were just a writhing mass of human and inhuman limbs.  
  
The gravity of the situation just wasn't quite clicking in Tifa's mind. Her limbs were frozen where she stood, and from the looks on everyone else's faces, they were stunned as well. For a moment, she looked wildly around the room, mind taking brief stillshots of her friends. Barret and Cid were still plastered against the far wall, their weapons drawn even though they clearly had no idea what to do with them. Elena's eyes were wide with shock as she stared down at Reno's thrashing figure. Cloud looked dumbfounded. The Running Man's eyes were open, so very green and familiar. Rude was absolutely still, mouth hanging open slightly. The woman known as Alette was struggling wildly against her ropes, screaming in pure terror.  
  
Not that she didn't have a right to be afraid. Tifa knew that if Reno somehow got loose, blood would be shed, and it wouldn't be his. Reno would kill her with his bare hands if he had to, and bound to her chair, Alette was a helpless victim…  
  
//…but she killed her own daughter! Doesn't such a monster deserve to die? Doesn't Reno deserve his vengeance?//  
  
//…are you going to watch your friend slaughter someone in cold blood right in front of you? Spilling her blood will not heal him.//  
  
//…she killed two-year-old baby girl!//  
  
//…two years old…twenty years old…human life is human life. All is precious.//  
  
Alette deserved to die, but Tifa couldn't let Reno kill her.  
  
But…she still couldn't move. She tried – oh god, did she ever try. But her feet just wouldn't obey. All she could do was stare helplessly at the thrashing figures of Vincent, Reno, and Red on the hard, pitiless floor of the cellar. It was taking both of them to restrain the Turk. Two fighters with unnatural strength to hold down one human man. It was only then that Tifa realized that much of Reno's strength was rooted in his neverending well of bitterness and rage.  
  
Reno managed to extricate one arm, and Tifa saw that seemingly disembodied limb lash upwards and catch Vincent underneath the chin. The gunman's head jerked backwards, and Tifa imagined she could hear his teeth clacking together. Naturally, it wasn't enough to force Vincent to relax his hold, but Reno suddenly angled his long fingers into a pseudo-blade and slammed them into Vincent's neck with enough rage-driven power to make the man fall away from him, struggling for breath. A blow such as that would have crushed a normal human's windpipe, Tifa knew, but Vincent was only gasping for breath – preternatural abilities at their advantageous best.  
  
With Vincent's gone, Reno's thrashing became more vigorous, and he let out a loud cry as he managed to free one of his feet. Another guttural scream ripped from his throat as he delivered a hard kick into Red's side, sending the lion-like beast skidding away with an angry snarl.  
  
Reno struggled to his feet, face a mask of pure fury. Tifa kept telling her feet to move, to get between Reno and Alette somehow, but her body was something out of her control now. She was frozen.  
  
And so she braced herself, ready to witness the sight of Reno attacking a defenseless victim. But Reno didn't move a step closer towards his ex-wife. He tottered around drunkenly for a second, flashing eyes flitting blindly around the room. His face was a ghastly shade of white, as if some demon had leeched the blood from his body, and he was hovering on the brink of death, blind in his rage. The darkness of the twin scars on his cheekbones and the bloody redness of his hair stood out in bright contrast to the ghostly pallor of his skin.  
  
By chance, Reno's eyes flicked in Tifa's direction, and for a few breathless seconds, their gazes locked and held. A vise closed around her heart when she saw that wound torn and bleeding, gushing. She saw the well of bitterness deep within him, spewing forth dark memories like a geyser, as mindless and out of control as a runaway train, never coming back from the point of no return.  
  
Then his eyes were gone, and he was pounding up the stairs and out of the cellar, leaving only silence and the pitiful weeping of Alette. Tifa slowly became aware of herself again, as if for that horrible time period, she had been estranged from her body, living only for that gloriously unstable man that had just torn out of the cellar as if the devil himself were close on his heels.  
  
A glass shattered upstairs in the restaurant area, and with it the last remnants of the frozen spell Reno's pulsing, bleeding soul cast over the room.  
  
"Reno! Come back!" Tifa cried, racing up the stairs, Rude and Elena close at her heels.  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
"Reeenooo!" Elena called, her voice satisfyingly loud. One positive thing Tifa could say about Elena was that the small woman had one mighty bellow.  
  
But even the loudness of the Turk's voice wasn't enough to overcome the endless roar of the rain. Tifa, for one, was so sick of rain and being wet that she didn't think she would mind if she never took another shower again in her entire life.  
  
"God, where could he be?!" Elena said worriedly, panic starting to creep into her voice. "It feels like we've searched the entire goddamn city!"  
  
Tifa shared the Turk's sentiment, but still she said, "We can't just give up. Cloud and Rude are out there looking as well. Between the four of us, we should be able to find him."  
  
//Please be okay, Reno. Don't do anything stupid.//  
  
As she and Elena continued down the street, eyes desperately searching the darkness for any sign of their missing friend, Tifa couldn't help but worry if the appearance of Alette had finally driven Reno off the deep end. She had looked into those crazed, pained eyes and saw the man she had come to know as Reno of the Turks slowly deteriorating, being devoured by bitterness and a rage so deep that it was a pit without a bottom. Tifa was afraid Reno would take out the sudden surge of violence in his soul on the first thing that crossed his path, and if there was no one, he would turn on himself. She heard the waters flooding Lower Junon were deep. Several people had drowned already, their bodies lost somewhere in that massive watery grave.  
  
//No!// she told herself harshly. //Reno would never take his own life! What kind of friend are you – thinking like that? Think positive, Tifa! Reno is going to be fine. Reno is going to be fine…//  
  
And Tifa realized for the first time that she would miss Reno dearly if he died. He was her friend now, and she had to help him.  
  
However, after ten more minutes of fruitless searching, she and Elena were still no closer to finding Reno than they were when they left the restaurant. All they knew was that he was somewhere out in the complex labyrinth of Upper Junon, and naturally, such meager knowledge amounted to nothing.  
  
Tifa and Elena had already checked all the bars and shops. No Reno. Cloud and Rude were to check the alleyways and get as far as they could to Lower Junon to make sure Reno wasn't thinking of taking a fateful plunge into the floodwaters. Tifa didn't know if they had found anything. Her PHS and Elena's cell phone didn't work in the rain; they had left both communication devices back at the restaurant.  
  
A feeling of isolation washed over Tifa as she sloshed through another puddle, water splashing her already drenched legs. The lighted restaurant filled with her friends (and two of her enemies) seemed so far away. Kalm and the scorched remains of her bar seemed even farther. All she knew was this dark, rain-soaked backstreet, as if it were her entire world and everything else had been just a dream.  
  
"Tifa?" Elena suddenly asked, and something in her voice made all of the other woman's attention come to focus on her.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
The Turk's eyes were wide and dark. "Do you know who that woman back at the restaurant is?"  
  
Tifa blinked in surprise. She had been so caught up in her search for Reno that she had completely forgotten that Alette was back at the bar, a living relic from Reno's dark past. A murderer who had killed her daughter, but…  
  
'You'd better run away while I'm gone, because if I get back and you're still here, I'm gonna to fuckin' kill you! Hell, if I ever SEE you again in my entire life, I'll twist your head off your neck! You hear me?! I'll KILL you!'  
  
"I know who she is," Tifa said quietly, voice barely audible over the rain. "But it's not my story to tell."  
  
Elena looked her dubiously, mistrust clearly evident in her dark eyes.  
  
"I'm telling the truth," Tifa insisted, unable to keep a defensive tone out of her voice. She had always hated it when people looked at her like that. "Please believe me, Elena. We can't let Reno near to that woman, or he'll kill her."  
  
The woman blinked. "You're serious, aren't you?" she asked softly.  
  
Tifa nodded.  
  
Elena sighed sadly as they continued to walk through the rain. "He didn't have any weapons, I don't think. His nightstick was lost in the sewers, and I don't know if he managed to retrieve his gun before the bar went down in flames."  
  
"I saw Vincent's Silver Rifle tucked in the waistband of his pants," Tifa countered quietly.  
  
Elena's worried expression intensified so much that Tifa wished she could retract her words. "Oh no! I was really hoping he wouldn't have a gun with him."  
  
Tifa didn't say anything in reply, but she agreed wholeheartedly. A mentally unstable, possibly rage-stricken Reno with a loaded gun was not a thing they wanted running rampant without anything to rein it in.  
  
//All the more reason why we have to find him quickly// she urged herself, finding that if she was stern, it would give her time to worry too much.  
  
It seemed as if they had been searching for hours when they finally came to a dead end, though 'dead' could hardly describe the scene that lay before the two women. Upper Junon abruptly fell away, and the ocean stretched out in all directions, dark and terrible in her beauty, but not dead. No, the ocean was constantly teeming with life; Tifa was certain there were dozens of unknown monsters living in her depths. Normally, she loved looking upon the crystalline blue waters of the ocean, the gentle waves sparkling with reflected sunlight. It was one of the reasons she had wanted to set up her bar in Kalm.  
  
But never in her life had she seen an ocean like this, so dark and forbidding, with tall, hungry waves that leapt and contorted in the air, like they wanted to eat the world. Falling raindrops punctured their watery kindred, making the waves look like they had some horrid disease as they lashed upward, scrabbling for the chance to drown Upper Junon just as they had devoured Lower Junon.  
  
The sight took Tifa's breath away, but in a wild, terrified sort of way.  
  
"Ugly," Elena muttered, wrapping her arms around herself as if cold.  
  
Tifa looked down at the dark waters still a distance below her. Had Reno…?  
  
"Tifa! Elena!" a deep voice suddenly called.  
  
Both women turned in surprise to find Rude walking towards them down the deserted street, strides long and unhurried. His deep-set green eyes glittered as he got closer, their gleam undimmed by the raindrops rolling down his face.  
  
"Rude!" Elena exclaimed, rushing up to him, Tifa close at her heels.  
  
"We found him," Rude announced calmly.  
  
"You did?!" Tifa exclaimed breathlessly. Her heart was beating in her throat. "Where is he?"  
  
"Follow me," he said in an unwavering tone, but Tifa spotted a mixture of relief and worry that flitted across his green eyes before he turned around and began to walk down the street, back the way he came.  
  
Elena moved up beside Rude, but Tifa lagged a couple of steps behind. She hadn't liked the look in Rude's eyes. The relief was something nice to see, but the worry…if they had found Reno, and he was alright, then why worry any longer?  
  
//Duh// a voice mocked. //Because he's NOT alright, and probably never will be again//  
  
//No…don't let it be that way. Reno's going to be just fine!//  
  
Or so she told herself, but there just wasn't enough conviction behind the words. She knew Reno wasn't alright because he had never really been alright to begin with. Not with that terrible wound festering inside him like a slow poison, eating away at his life. She could only pray that it hadn't devoured him already.  
  
Rude strode to the end of the street and up to the very edge of the street until it looked like he was going to walk right off and plummet into the dark waters below. Elena and Tifa hesitantly came up on either side of him, silently willing their shoes not to slide on the wet pavement. One slip here meant an almost certain death in the churning waters fifty feet below them.  
  
"Down there," Rude said, pointing straight down with one gloved hand.  
  
Tifa steeled her and leaned slightly over the edge, hoping her well-honed balance wouldn't betray her now. Right below them, where she had expected to see nothing but roaring, world-devouring ocean water, she instead saw a large metal platform that hung out over the waters, like a balcony without a railing. A wet and glistening ladder at her feet lead down to the platform.  
  
"I don't see him," Elena announced tensely.  
  
"I know," Rude replied, pulling back from the edge. "There a large opening in the wall directly beneath us that leads into an old tunnel that used to provide quick passage for sea-faring crafts."  
  
"Sea-faring crafts?" Elena asked curiously.  
  
"Back when Junon was first built, they were focused on testing different kinds of aquatic military craft. From a testing facility directly underneath Junon, the crafts would be jettisoned out of the tunnel and onto the ocean's surface. The tunnel has been out of use for a long time, and all passageways to the abandoned testing facility have been sealed off so it's now the equivalent of a very large, very long hole in the wall." He paused. "Cloud said Reno was down in the back of the tunnel."  
  
That got Tifa's attention. "Cloud's down there with him?"  
  
Rude glanced at her for a moment, then looked away. "No. Cloud has gone back to the restaurant to inform the others that Reno is alright."  
  
Tifa frowned. She had wanted Cloud to be here, even if it was just for moral support. Reno didn't appear to like Cloud very much, but Tifa knew that somewhere in the back of his mind, Reno respected the leader of AVALANCHE maybe more than anyone else, save for Reeve. Though given the Turk's current state of mind, she was uncertain as to how he would react to an authority figure. Maybe that was the reason Cloud had gone back…  
  
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Elena asked impatiently, moving towards the ladder. "Let's go get him."  
  
Rude laid a large hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. The blonde woman stared up at him, perplexed. "What is it, Rude? We need to go get him."  
  
Rude looked off across the tormented ocean. "I think Tifa should go down there alone," he said flatly.  
  
"What?" Elena and Tifa asked simultaneously.  
  
//Why me alone?//  
  
Tifa suddenly found herself the focus of a pair of bright green eyes, their brilliance natural, not Mako-derived. "You have to help him, Tifa," Rude said quietly.  
  
"But..." Tifa began in a troubled voice.  
  
"Why just her?" Elena demanded, echoing Tifa's thoughts exactly. "We can help him, too, Rude!"  
  
But it was as if Elena hadn't even spoken. Rude's eyes burned into her burgundy ones. "Please, Tifa."  
  
Tifa's hands clenched into fists at her sides, but not in anger. She felt a heavy burden descend on her shoulders, just as it had the day she had gone out to listen to Reno's story on the beach at Kalm. It was funny how she believed in herself until other people started to do the same thing. She was good at taking responsibility until others began to rely on her as well. It was simple when it was just her life at stake, but when other human beings put their lives in her hands...sometimes it was all too much.  
  
She hated that part of herself. So indecisive. And it wasn't just Reno who was depending her, she decided, as she looked into Rude's eyes, the calm green shade resembling placid emeralds with a core of chaos within their crystalline cages. And then there was Elena's wide, worried eyes peering around Rude's shoulder at her, slightly angry, slightly desperate. They were relying on her, too. Relying on her help Reno. Too succeed where they had failed...  
  
Tifa nodded, ignoring her waterlogged bangs as they snaked into her eyes. "Alright, I'll go."  
  
She turned towards the ladder, prepared to begin her precarious descent, when Rude suddenly grabbed her hand. She looked at him in surprise.  
  
"Take care of him, Tifa," he said softly.  
  
She smiled wanly. "I will, Rude. Don't worry."  
  
He squeezed her hand, and a strange light entered his eyes. "Take care of yourself as well."  
  
An uncertain pucker formed between her graceful eyebrows, but before she could become further confused, Rude released her hand and stepped back next to Elena, hands clasped in front of him, all business once more.  
  
Tifa nodded at them once more, then turned and started to descend the ladder alone.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Rude watched emotionlessly as the top of Tifa's head sank out of view. He resisted the urge to step up to the edge and watch her climb down to the platform safely. Such a thing would have been unnecessary, he knew; Tifa was more than capable of taking care of herself. She didn't need anyone to follow her around like an aimless shadow, doting on her every move as if she were some divine being to be cherished and protected lest she break. No, Tifa Lockheart would not appreciate that in the slightest.  
  
Hazy green eyes stared at the top of the ladder until the visage began dancing in and out of focus tauntingly. Then Rude turned away.  
  
"Let's go," he said firmly, beginning the lonely walk back down the wide street that had once provided a resting place for the Junon canon, the former party ground for President Rufus' Shinra welcoming parade. A street full of memories, that's what it was. That was what all of Junon was for him – a cauldron filled to the brim with a terrible concoction of memories better left forgotten.  
  
"Wait up, Rude!" Elena cried, hurrying to his side. "You're walking too fast!"  
  
Rude didn't reply, but he slowed his pace enough for the shorter Turk to catch up. He had to remember that not every one of his friends was six feet or higher. It took two of Elena's strides to match one of his.  
  
Lightening silently knifed through the sky overhead, throwing Rude and Elena's shadows on the pavement before them. Rain pounded his broad shoulders, but Rude paid it no heed. The ill-fated droplets would soon lose themselves in the fabric of his suit or the puddles underfoot, vanishing into the maw of a being greater than themselves. That was just how the world worked, how it always had been.  
  
"I hope you know where we're going," Elena said irritably as she trudged alongside him.  
  
"We're going back to Kyra's restaurant," Rude answered calmly, unperturbed by her bad mood.  
  
Elena gave a very unfeminine snort and crossed her arms across her chest. "I'm so sick of all this goddamn rain!" she declared. "I'm sick of being wet and exhausted and worried and frustrated and…what the hell am I talking to YOU about this for? It's not like you CARE or anything…"  
  
Rude frowned almost imperceptibly. "If that's what you want to believe…"  
  
There was a brief hesitation, and then Elena replied in a voice so quiet that her words were nearly drowned out by the rain. "Sorry, Rude. I didn't mean to snap at you. I just want this all to be over."  
  
"As we all do," Rude deadpanned.  
  
Silence once again became their companion as the two Turks walked along the deserted street, the ocean stretching endlessly to their right and the dark, gloomy apartment buildings of downtown Junon rising to their left. Urban jungle and abysmal ocean. In other words, the proverbial rock and hard place, and this long, wide street was the place that existed in limbo between the two wastelands. This street where the rain seemed to pound harder, the droplets cry even more sadly than normal.  
  
Or maybe Rude's melancholy state of mind was because of Reno's condition? He knew his best friend was being tormented by something, and there was nothing under the stars Rude could do to help. For some reason, what was going on in Reno's soul was far beyond Rude's healing capacity – what little he had possessed in the first place. He had never been adept at comforting others, but back in the cellar of the restaurant, he had wished for nothing more than to be someone else, someone who could heal, someone who had the ability to help others. What he had seen flashing in Reno's eyes was…something that was beyond him, a pain he couldn't ease.  
  
Reno was dying inside, and there was nothing he could do.  
  
//Helpless again. In Junon, too. Seems like this city always strips me of all my strength//  
  
"Are you in love with her?" Elena suddenly asked, out of nowhere.  
  
Rude's steps faltered, and it was all he could do not to jump in surprise. "What do you mean?" he asked, incredulous that such calm words were falling from his lips.  
  
He didn't look at Elena, but he could practically feel her scowling. "You KNOW who I mean. Tifa Lockheart!"  
  
Rude didn't answer her, only kept his gaze straight forward, staring at the end of the street. He didn't trust himself to look anywhere else.  
  
Elena flung her hands up in frustration, voice rising shrilly into the rain night. "I CAN'T believe this! What IS it about that woman?! What does every single man see in her?! I swear if hear one more person—"  
  
Turning away abruptly, Rude strode to the edge of the street, back ramrod straight as he stared off at the churning ocean. His hands were clenched tightly into fists at his sides, fingers straining with the effort to contain his emotions. He felt his own instability, rising in his soul like a demon from the pits of hell.  
  
He was tired, worried, wartorn, and maybe even a little scared. Reeve was still missing, and the Running Man – the one who might or might not hold all the answers they'd been looking for – was locked in the cellar of Kyra's restaurant, waiting to be interrogated. Only they couldn't interrogate him until they found Reno, who had gone off the deep end because of some mysterious woman whose name Rude didn't know, whose face Rude didn't recognize. He felt like he hadn't slept in years; his body was aching, weary to the bone, and his heart, which he usually commended for its fortitude, was on the verge of shattering along with his body. The last thing he needed right now was for Elena to confront him about his mixed-up feelings for Tifa.  
  
And why did it have to be Elena, of all people? Rude was sure he would have fared better if Tifa herself had come up to him demanding answers to questions better left unasked. For some reason, he didn't want to talk with Elena about his feelings for another woman. It bothered him.  
  
Elena came up beside him meekly, hands wrung together in front of her. Rude didn't look at her.  
  
"R-Rude?" she began so quietly that the ocean's roar nearly swallowed her voice. "I'm so sorry, Rude. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Please…don't think badly of me." She sounded like she was about to cry, and that alarmed Rude more than anything. He hated when people cried.  
  
He wanted to devise some answer to quell the onslaught of her questions and impending confessions, but Rude had never been good with words. None came to him, and he just stood in the rain, gazing off over the tumultuous ocean at a sunless horizon that seemed to have no end.  
  
"Rude?" Elena whispered softly, pleadingly. He could feel her eyes on the side of his face.  
  
"Don't worry about it, Elena," he said levelly. "I'm not angry with you."  
  
Still, her discomfort did not cease; in fact, Rude perceived a rising tension in her like a tidal wave, ready to crash onto the formerly immovable shore. He suddenly knew that she wanted desperately to tell him something, and he wasn't sure he was ready to hear it, whatever it was.  
  
"Rude," she began, voice strong yet trembling. "You know, there's other…people out there besides Tifa. People who…people who care a lot about you…"  
  
His eyes widened slightly. //No…she can't be…//  
  
She tentatively touched his arm, and he imagined he could feel the warmth of her small hand even through his thick, soaking wet sleeve. "Rude, I—" she started to say.  
  
Rude turned and gently pressed his fingers against her lips, praying that his fingers weren't as weak and shaking as he felt inside. "Elena, don't—" he said softly.  
  
She stared up at him with hurt blazing in her chocolate brown eyes. The darkness of his fingers and gloves looked like a parasite latched onto her soft, pale skin. One of her hands came up to lightly grip his wrist, fingers shuddering with both cold and emotion.  
  
"I'm trying to tell you something important, Rude," she whispered beseechingly, lips moving against his fingers. The wounded look in her eyes was making a tightness blossom in his chest.  
  
The tall Turk suddenly reached out and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her against him in a firm embrace. He felt her muscles lock in surprise, then relax until she rested within the circle of his arms, head against his chest. Rude held her close, finding that he actually wanted to touch her, touch another person. It had been a long time since he either held or been held by anyone. And to think that in the beginning, if not for Tseng's presence…  
  
he and Elena might have been…  
  
He forced his emotions back, burying them deep within the calculating coldness that had kept him alive and safe for years, shielding him from the guilt, the horror, the hell that came with being a Turk, an assassin, a being without morals. For far too long, he had lived a life devoid of deeper feeling, and the recent occurrences were happening too quickly for him to keep up with what people were now expecting of him. To love, to care, to fear…when had these things become so alien to him?  
  
//But, maybe, just maybe, in…//  
  
"Time," Rude said, resting his chin on the top of Elena's head. "Just give me time, Elena. I can't…deal with anything right now. Can you just give me a little time?"  
  
//Please…//  
  
He felt her nod, face moving against his chest. "Yes," she whispered. "I can."  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
Dark and echoing was the tunnel. Every breath, every footfall seemed unnaturally loud, screaming and resounding off the circular walls before the darkness gobbled it up. And what a hungry thing was the inky black that Tifa had plunged straight into, leaving the slippery platform and the lacerating rain behind in a world that she felt she was no longer a part of.  
  
For in this tunnel was an entirely different time period, an era ridden with wars of the soul. The only thing that existed in this frightening realm of limbo was the past, and Tifa knew that it was up to her to hang onto the present and to see into the future. Because Reno couldn't do that, not in the condition he was in now, and ironically, it was only the past and future that could offer to him any hope of salvation.  
  
Tifa swallowed hard, concentrating only on pulling air in and out of her lungs. A stale, metallic odor hung in the tunnel, like the stench of old blood. The tunnel was wide and seemed to loom around her on all sides. There was very little light, but streetlamps from the outside world managed to extend their artificial rays of illumination into the mouth of the tunnel; thus, Tifa's path was clear enough before her so she wasn't running blind into the depths of Junon.  
  
Her hands were damp with rain and sweat, and she absently rubbed her palms against the fabric of her skirt before remembering that her gloves were in the way. She had worn her Premium Heart so often in the past few days that it felt as if she had been born with it on her hand. It had been a year since she had lived a life of constant battle, and she was disappointed at how poorly her heart and body were adjusting to the abrupt change.  
  
//Don't think about that// she told herself sternly. //Focus. If you start thinking about how tired you are, you'll never make it to the end//  
  
Yet, somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if there ever WAS going to be an end to all this.  
  
She cut her thoughts short, though, for she was suddenly able to discern a shape at the end of the tunnel. White shirt in the blackness, maybe a brief glint of red hair darkened by the dampness of rain. As she drew closer, heart thundering, a pair of bitter aquamarine eyes snapped open, pinning her with their glare. Yes, this truly was limbo, and those horrible, haunted eyes were a pure testament of that. She saw no sense of reality in those pale orbs; they were merely two drowning pools of the darkest emotions ever conceived by man.  
  
"Reno…" she whispered, walking to where he was lying against the wall, his pale, scarred cheek pressed against the cold metal. Everything about him seemed dead, drained of all semblance of vivacity, something that was incredibly unnerving to see in Reno, one who was always moving. The only thing that seemed even remotely alive were his eyes, pale Mako eyes that followed her every movement as she folded her legs beneath her and knelt in front of him, long brown hair pooling on the floor beside her.  
  
Reno's gaze locked onto her face, painfully direct, and Tifa found that she had to look away to avoid being impaled by the figurative daggers that lurked in those glowing depths. She clasped her hands nervously in her lap and looked at Reno's pale hand resting limply on his own thigh, fingers curled slightly. His long legs extended bonelessly towards the center of the tunnel, one of them trapped beneath its counterpart in a position that must have been uncomfortable to be in for any given amount of time.  
  
//How long as he been down here?// Tifa wondered silently. //Reno…what's going through your head? What are you thinking? Do I even WANT to know what you're thinking?//  
  
But instead of asking one of the many questions she had for Reno, she instead said nothing at all – merely sat there in the cold silence, the metal of the tunnel cold beneath her bare knees and the limp form of her friend inches away from her. Inches, of course, that may as well have been miles. Suddenly, Tifa felt very alone.  
  
"My mother," she whispered, "was very important to me."  
  
There was no reply so she continued hesitantly, "She died when I was a young girl, but I still hold her very dear to me, just like all my other memories from back when I lived in Kalm." She paused. "All my experiences have made me who I am today, made me stronger…even the bad ones…"  
  
"Your mother," Reno said in a low, raspy voice that Tifa barely recognized as his. "Didn't kill your only reason for living, I'm sure. You can never understand what I feel. Go away."  
  
Tifa shook her head and met his bitter eyes. "No, Reno, I'm not leaving unless you come with me."  
  
There was silence as he seemed to consider this, only Tifa had a suspicion that he wasn't thinking about anything except murder. Never before had she been in the presence of another person yet felt so *severed* from them. It was disconcerting, as if Reno weren't really there.  
  
"How long did you train with your martial arts master?" he suddenly asked in that quiet, slow voice.  
  
Tifa blinked in surprise. "I trained with Zangan for seven years, why?"  
  
A wicked glint entered his eyes. "I'll bet you know how to kill a man with your bare hands, right? Snap his neck? Crush his windpipe? A thousand painful ways to die – I'll bet that was the pinnacle of your training."  
  
Tifa didn't reply, her fists tightening in her lap. The final technique she learned was the Final Heaven, and against weaker opponents, it DID mean instant death. But that wasn't why she started to learn martial arts in the first place. Just where was Reno going with this?  
  
"Kill me," he suddenly said sharply.  
  
Tifa nearly choked on her own breath.  
  
His eyes bore into her, hidden daggers lacerating her mental armor. "Either you kill me, or I'll go back to there and kill that bitch with my bare hands."  
  
Tifa's jaw clenched as she braced herself. "I can't let you kill her, Reno."  
  
The rage came a second later. Reno's eyes flashed, and those intangible daggers lashed out at her. "Are you siding with her?" Reno seethed, voice twisted with fury. "You ARE siding with her, aren't you?! How DARE you?!"  
  
"Just listen to me, Reno," Tifa insisted, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. She felt him slipping.  
  
"No!" he snapped. "I'm through listening to you! I'm through listening to everyone!"  
  
"Reno!"  
  
"Kill me," he hissed.  
  
"No."  
  
"Kill me now!"  
  
"No!"  
  
His irises suddenly faded to a shade so pale that they almost looked like iridescent pearls. "I'll make you kill me," he threatened, but he didn't move.  
  
Tifa wanted to shut her eyes against the sudden moisture that was stinging them, but the trained fighter in her wouldn't let her look away from a man who had just approached her with violence. "Please let me help you, Reno," she whispered.  
  
"And what the hell can you do for me?" he asked harshly. "You lost your chance to take my life in exchange for hers. I have to kill her now."  
  
"No," Tifa insisted, shaking her head furiously. "You don't have to kill anyone. Bloodshed isn't the answer."  
  
"This isn't about bloodshed," Reno said flatly. "This is about letting my daughter's soul rest in peace."  
  
Tifa steeled herself and said, "Reno, I'm sure Mika wouldn't want you to kill her mother. No child…would want her mother to die."  
  
~"I wanna see Mama…"~  
  
~"Is Mama there…beyond the mountain?"~  
  
Reno laughed, a sharp, bitter sound that resounded off the walls of the tunnel until it seemed as if they were drowning in that dark laughter. "I was GLAD when my mother died, the worthless bitch. I was free after that, free to do whatever the hell I wanted with my rotten life."  
  
Tifa winced at his harsh words. "Reno, please. You can't kill Alette. Could you really do it? Could you kill your wife?"  
  
"You bet I could," Reno spat angrily, eyes glittering in the darkness with primitive, animal-like intelligence.  
  
Frustration rose in Tifa. She wasn't getting through to him! All her words were slamming against the indestructible idea that he HAD to kill Alette no matter what. For now, Tifa could only pray that Reno wasn't so far gone that her words wouldn't be able to reach him at all.  
  
"Reno," she tried again. "You've lived your entire life remembering the promise to destroy her if you ever saw her again. I think that's all you've really been living for, isn't it? All the drinking, all the women – they didn't matter in the end, did they? You were just trying to forget your daughter and your wife. But now, if all you've existed for is those two people, then if you kill Alette, you'll have nothing left. You'd die with her."  
  
An auburn eyebrow lifted derisively. "And? You say that like it's a bad thing."  
  
His words wounded her deeply for some reason. She looked to his eyes and saw no respect for anything; the Planet, human life…it all didn't matter to him. And she remembered his words on the beach: "…and my life is nothing but a scratch in the Planet's timeline. Petty and insignificant, just as it was meant to be."  
  
How…how could Reno even begin to appreciate the lives of others when he didn't even value his own?  
  
And suddenly, Tifa was infuriated beyond all reason. "You're such a coward," she told Reno, voice unforgiving. "You're a selfish bastard who only thinks of his own peace of mind."  
  
"Shut up," Reno growled, eyes starting to bleed back to the pearly color.  
  
"It's true!" Tifa snapped, hands fisted her lap, trembling with the effort not to send them lashing through the air. "All you can think about is killing Alette so that you can finally rest in peace, isn't it? Selfish to the end! Don't you ever stop to think about the people that would be sad if you died?! The people who would cry for you? Rude and Elena are SUFFERING right now because YOU won't let them help you! Sending me down here alone was the hardest thing they'd ever done! They care for you so much, Reno! Your death would tear them apart! Don't you understand?!" Angry tears were running down her cheeks.  
  
Reno's eyes blazed, and he started to look away, but Tifa grabbed him by the front of the shirt and hauled him closer. Her sudden motion upset his balance, and he nearly fell against her, one cold, clammy hand braced against her bare thigh. His ponytail spilled over his shoulder like a sudden outflow of dark blood, and through the portals of his tormented eyes, she could see that the wound inside him was bleeding again, pumping acidic blood through the network of his soul.  
  
"Would you do it to them?" Tifa demanded, her angry eyes never leaving his. "Would you make your friends cry all because of some silly notion of vengeance? They NEED you, Reno! Reeve needs you go look for him! Are you just going to abandon him as well?! You're such a selfish coward, Reno!"  
  
"LEAVE ME ALONE!!" Reno yelled, weakly trying to pull away from her grasp, but it was as if his limbs were no longer at his disposal. "You can't even begin to imagine how I feel! You don't know what it's like to live your every waking moment thinking about…seeing the same face…I can't just forget my daughter like that! I can't let her death go unpunished, and I don't give a fuck what happens to me!"  
  
"Goddammit, Reno!" Tifa shook him hard, her vision becoming increasingly blurry the more agitated she became. "Your daughter doesn't want you to kill the woman who gave birth to her! Do you think I wanted my mother to die?!" Her voice cracked. "NO, I didn't want her to die!!"  
  
"Why are you protecting her?!" Reno shouted. "Alette's not worth protecting! You don't understand ANYTHING!! I can't fail my daughter! I just…can't…"  
  
He stopped and swallowed hard, muscles of his throat working in the darkness. He was trembling within her grasp, and Tifa was caught between wanting to hold him until he stopped quivering and shaking him until he regained his wits.  
  
Reno lowered his head, eyes falling into shadow. When he spoke next, his voice was flat, dead. "Tseng died because his faithful Turks weren't there to back him up. Mika was killed because I wasn't there to protect her. Reeve is dead because I was too late to help him."  
  
Tifa's hold on his shirt tightened. "Stop that, Reno," she ordered. "Reeve's not dead!"  
  
Reno let out a bitter laugh and pinned her with a cruel glare. "Do you HONESTLY think that he's alive? If he was anywhere, then he was down there in wherever the hell you guys were, and that place collapsed into nothing, didn't it?"  
  
"But it's possible that he's still alive," Tifa insisted, striving to be sensible. "And the one man that can tell us where Reeve might be is the Running Man, and we have him in that cellar—"  
  
"—with that bitch," Reno tacked on viciously.  
  
Tifa ignored his words. "We need you right now, Reno," she told him urgently. "Cloud is strong, but he can't do this alone. And your Turks need you as well."  
  
Reno's eyes darkened, and she felt his cold fingers digging into the flesh of her thigh. "Shut up!" he snapped. "Don't even TRY using Rude and Elena against me! Nothing is going to change the fact that Alette has to die! Why do you insist on taking away my one chance to redeem myself, to make up for letting my daughter die?!"  
  
Tifa fully expected her own temper to flare up at his redundant words, but instead all she found in her heart was an aching gentleness. "Because, Reno, if you kill Alette, then you'll die as well, and I don't want that for you. I don't want you to die, Reno."  
  
He looked away sharply. "Shut up," he hissed. "You lie."  
  
She put one gloved hand against his scarred cheek and tried to turn his face back towards her. "Look at me, and you'll know I'm not lying," she said softly.  
  
Reno fought for a moment, trying not to allow her to turn his face towards her. In the end, though, those pained aquamarine eyes locked onto her burgundy ones, and Tifa saw the true extent of his pain. The bitterness was deep, just as every bit unfathomable as his love for his deceased daughter. Mika was at the core of his pain; haunting memories of her face drove him to drink, to darkness. But on the other hand, without her, Reno never would have known what love was…  
  
…unless…unless maybe…  
  
There was something else flickering deep in the depths of those eyes, something that was beyond the rage, beyond the suffering, beyond the bitterness. Something buried so deeply that she was sure Reno didn't even know it was there. Only someone with unclouded eyes could even catch a glimpse of it, and Tifa was desperately striving to make sense of what she was seeing.  
  
But then Reno's eyes slid slowly closed, eyelashes looking far too dark for man of such pale, ghostly skin. A shudder ran through his entire body, and suddenly Tifa found herself cradling his head in the crook of her elbow, the redness of his hair bright against the flesh of her arm. He was trembling something awful, and she instinctively wrapped her arms around him the best she could. One of her hands rested on his back while she absently traced the line of one dark scar with her opposite thumb.  
  
"Reno?" she whispered questioningly. "Are you alright?"  
  
"No," he said quietly.  
  
Tifa rubbed his back gently, trying to soothe him in a motherly fashion. She stared off into the darkness of the tunnel and listened to the cruel rain that seemed so far away. It really did feel like she was in another world, but it was, for better or worse, a world in which her presence was now only a mere handicap.  
  
Her vision danced before her, and she realized more tears were threatening to roll down her cheeks. "Reno," she said softly. "I…don't think I can help you anymore."  
  
Silence. He didn't even stir from within the circle of her arms, but she knew he had heard her.  
  
Her grip on him tightened, a slight desperation written in her movements. "I'm sorry," she mouthed to the darkness. "I'm so sorry."  
  
//This is the right thing to do// she told herself fiercely. //I can't fight this battle for him//  
  
Swallowing hard, she forced words past her constricting throat, "I'm still…here…though. If you ever need me…I'll be right here." She closed her eyes against her tears. "Please don't die, Reno. I'll be sad if you do."  
  
He shifted slightly. "Everything dies, Tifa."  
  
She didn't know what to say to that. Death was a certitude, something guaranteed to every human upon birth. His words were undeniably true, and there was nothing she could do about it but pray that her caring for him would be enough to keep him living, even if it was only for a short time.  
  
So there she remained with him until the first traces of light began to burn away the darkness in the tunnel. Gray, dim light that only touched them because the gloomy storm clouds permitted it to do so, but it was light nonetheless. Tifa had been staring in the darkness for a long time, it seemed, holding Reno. His cheek was pillowed against her arm, his body still and silent, like calm water before a hurricane.  
  
She absently played with his hair, noting that the blood red strands had begun to dry. "Let's go back to the others, Reno," she said softly.  
  
There was a brief hesitation, but then he nodded. "Yes."  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
"You guys will be okay?" Cloud asked, trying to keep the bone-crushing weariness from showing in his voice. The figures standing before him blurred, and he had to narrow his blue eyes to get them back into their rightful places.  
  
"Sure thang," Barret assured him, leaning his broad back against the wall next to the cellar door. "Our little friends down there ain't goin' nowhere."  
  
Cloud nodded and glanced at the man positioned other side of the door. "You okay, Cid?"  
  
The man took a long, slow drag of his cigarette, avoiding Cloud's eyes as he said, "Fine. You go rest up, kid."  
  
If Cloud hadn't been so exhausted, he would have been more skeptical of Cid's mental and emotional condition, but with things as they were now – and his body as worn out as it was – he didn't have any strength left for arguing. However, he did exchange a meaningful look with Barret that silently said, Take care of Cid.  
  
The big man nodded. "We gonna be fine, Spike. Now go on and get outta here."  
  
Cloud turned away and muttered something about Vincent coming to relieve them later on, but his words sounded jumbled and incoherent even to him. His boots scraped weakly across the floor as he practically dragged himself down the hall. He couldn't remember the last time he had been THIS tired. Searching for Yuffie, braving the earthquakes in the subterranean complex, fighting their way back to the surface, going after the Running Man, and then chasing after Reno – all these physically taxing events had taken their final toll on his normally resilient body. Proof than even ex- SOLDIERs shot up with Mako and Jenova cells had their limits, and Cloud was at his wits' end.  
  
//Wonder how long I have before my legs give out// he wondered dimly. //Gotta make it up the stairs…up the stairs…//  
  
To get to the stairs, however, he first had to trudge through the main area of the restaurant, where a very irate Kyra was sweeping up shards from the glasses Reno had knocked over in his haste to flee the restaurant. Cloud lifted a hand to her in both greeting and parting, not sticking around to engage in conversation. His feet were working fairly well on autopilot, and he didn't want to disrupt their rhythm for fear he would never get them moving again.  
  
Cloud actually managed to make it up the stairs and halfway down one of the second floor hallways before he realized that he had completely forgotten which room Kyra had told him to stay in. Was it the one next to the living room? Or the one off of the hallway that led to the bathroom? Was it the one off the hallway that led to the stairs that led to the kitchen that led to the bathtub…?  
  
//Oh well…here seems like a good place//  
  
The wall caught him as he fell against it, splintery fingertips accidentally lacerating his skin as he slid to the floor, legs finally betraying him as he had known they eventually would. But Cloud didn't care. It felt so good not to be moving for once. No more worries. Just…sleep.  
  
He closed his eyes and let himself sink into warm darkness without shape or form, just a beautifully empty void in which there existed no world filled with strife or suffering. Just darkness, and Cloud loved it.  
  
Soon, he found himself immersed in a startlingly realistic dream. Tifa Lockheart crouched before him, dark brown hair dyed jet black by rain. Or was in from a shower? No, her clothes were wet, and Cloud was pretty sure she hadn't hopped in the shower with all her armor on.  
  
She gazed at him with a look of heartbreaking concern on her lovely face, dark eyebrows creased with worry. Cloud thought he saw a white, blue, and red figure moving somewhere down the hall, but he ignored it when Tifa's lips suddenly began to move gracefully, forming soundless words.  
  
Cloud smiled sleepily, amused at the whole situation. He really loved having Tifa around, even if she did silly things like flap her lips pointlessly at empty air. Muttering something about turning up the volume on the TV, he once again slipped into darkness, only to go pinwheeling into yet another dream of the woman he loved.  
  
This time Tifa had one of his arms flung around her shoulders and was half- carrying/half-dragging him to a bed with a comforter made of all colors of the rainbow. Cloud that that was funny, too, and he grinned again as she lowered him to the mattress, brushing some of his hair away from his face. The surface of the Rainbow Bed dipped as she sat next to him, and he could see her soft, loving smile in the darkness, feel the warmth of her body close to his.  
  
Man, he wished he could sleep forever.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Reno leaned bonelessly against his closed door, waiting for his eyes to become accustomed to the darkness of his room. He could hear Tifa talking to the unconscious Cloud out in the hallway, trying to rouse the AVALANCHE leader from his exhausted state. Reno knew she probably wouldn't have much success. When a person was as burnt out as he guessed Cloud was, the body would refuse to awaken until its neglected energy stores were replenished.  
  
Speaking of depleted energy stores, though, Reno thought his had probably self-destructed long ago because as he glanced around his bedroom, he honestly didn't think he was capable of moving a single muscle. All the better, he supposed, because what he wanted to do was lie down, and it appeared that all the suitable resting places in his room had been the victims of a hostile takeover.  
  
Elena was curled into a fetal position on his bed, snoring softly in the darkness, the unladylike noises issuing from behind the wall of flaxen locks that had fallen over her face like a golden curtain. Something shifted near the window, and Reno eyes drifted lethargically away from Elena's sleeping form to see a lanky figure unfurling itself from a chair.  
  
"Rude," he muttered. "Didn't see ya."  
  
Rude stared at him. "If I were an assassin…"  
  
"I would have been dead," Reno finished artlessly. "Yeah, yeah, I know the drill."  
  
Silence fell between them as the red-haired Turk pushed himself away from the door, trudging past Rude and over to the window, where he pulled back the drawn curtains to permit gray, morbid light to seep into the unbroken darkness of the room. Though Kyra had erected her restaurant in a decent area of Upper Junon that was usually bustling with activity, no one wanted to brave the stinging raindrops in order to visit their favorite stores or eating places. The glistening streets were as dark and deserted as the skies overhead.  
  
Reno placed one of his pale hands against the glass and watched condensation form around his fingers, misty droplets gathering on the icy glass like miniature tears. //How long as it been?// he wondered. //This search for Reeve? Can't have been more than five days even though it feels like a fucking eternity. And now there's…there's…//  
  
Reno's soul felt raw, like some sadistic bastard had tied it to the back of a truck with a rope and drug it around the wartorn streets of Midgar a few hundred times before shoving it back into his body. Nothing seemed real anymore. Not the rain. Not Elena's snoring. Not even the Running Man seemed to matter any longer. The only things Reno knew were the faint, hazy recollection of his daughter's face, smiling as she waved to him one last time…and that bitch down there in the cellar, dressed in that slutty bodysuit.  
  
//Once a whore, always a whore// Reno thought bitterly, a small bit of sourness breaking through the cold that had settled over his soul. But he knew that frigid shield of primal ice was better than the fire, the burning rage. At least the cold was manageable; it was bearable whereas the fire poisoned him, seared away his sanity and shoved in his place a being who thirsted only for death and blood.  
  
"Reno?" Rude suddenly asked, causing the other Turk to jump slightly. He had almost forgotten his friend was still standing there at his side.  
  
Reno stared at him, aquamarine eyes unnaturally pale in the gray light. "Yeah?"  
  
Rude's voice was carefully neutral. "Are you alright?"  
  
A sarcastic, scathing reply came to Reno's lips, but he forced it back down when he beheld the deep-rooted worry in Rude's green eyes. Though the taller Turk gave no outward appearance of discomfort, the dark circles around his eyes and the tattered state of his usually immaculate blue suit belied the calmness he attempted to exude. It seemed Rude was burning out as well.  
  
Instead of replying to his friend's question, Reno turned back to the window. "How long have you and Laney been up here?" he asked as casually as possible, trying to force his voice to slip back into some semblance of normality.  
  
"For about an hour," Rude answered, eyes on the side of his friend's face. "We were both going to wait up for you, but Elena was so exhausted that I discreetly cast a Sleep spell on her."  
  
Reno made a "hmph" sound in the back of his throat, a sorry substitute for a laugh. "She'll be pissed when she wakes up."  
  
Rude just shrugged, still watching Reno intently, as if expecting the other man to explode in violence or tears at any minute. Reno was bitterly surprised at just how accurate that expectation actually was.  
  
Sighing deeply, Reno leaned forward and pressed his forehead against the cold glass so that it rested next to his hand. The water droplets chasing one another down the glass on the outside blurred slightly as he watched them follow their aimless course.  
  
"Tifa can't help me anymore," Reno suddenly said, the words tumbling from his lips is a soft rush, craftily evading his already weakened restraints on his actions.  
  
Rude didn't answer, only reseated himself in his chair with a soft rustling of clothes.  
  
Licking his suddenly dry lips, Reno continued, "Cloud collapsed in the hallway outside. She went to help him to his room."  
  
Silence and then, "Cloud pushes himself too hard."  
  
Pale aquamarine eyes flicked to the shadowy figure seated in the chair. "So does Tifa. It took a lot out of her to admit that she could no longer help me."  
  
//Now all she can do is watch me burn out. Watch from the sidelines, just like everyone else.//  
  
"I know what you're wondering, Reno," Rude said quietly.  
  
The red-haired man closed his eyes and sighed, breath forming a misty cloud on the window's glass. "Then," he said wearily. "Tell me the answer, if you can."  
  
There was only a brief hesitation before Rude said in his low, level voice, "You say she's with Cloud right now, helping him and caring for him. In everyone's eyes, you were his only competition for her attention and possibly her heart. And now since she cannot help you any longer, she's with Cloud. If I really do love her the way she needs to be loved, I should be more upset. Since I'm not…" His voice trailed off.  
  
"Then you don't love her in that way," Reno finished.  
  
"I guess not," Rude said, but Reno caught the small fluctuation in his friend's voice. Whether it was a sudden realization or an unspoken doubt, Reno didn't know and was too tired to give it a second thought. He really wanted his mind to be free of all thoughts, of all worries, of all semblances of pain, but just as he was too tired to ponder some things, by the same hand he was too tired to fend off thoughts of other things.  
  
Visages of Mika came and went as they pleased, elusive as ghosts in the dark, and since thoughts of Alette brought a sweeping firestorm of rage, Reno decided it was safer to reflect on Tifa Lockheart. She had done a lot for him, actually, more than he had ever expected her to do for a wastrel like him. Though some part of him wished he could claim her as his own and have her take care of him for the rest of his life, Reno knew that a delusion like that was hardly even a fantasy. True, it would have been nice to have her there to hold him whenever he needed it, but her heart obviously lay elsewhere, and it wasn't with him.  
  
Still, Reno had bared his soul to her, something he had never done before with anyone else. He cared about her, maybe even loved her a little.  
  
He was going to miss her.  
  
//Crap…I forgot to thank her for everything she's done//  
  
Reno thumped his forehead against the glass. "Dammit," he cursed softly. What he was damning, he didn't know. He figured it was a toss-up between himself and life in general.  
  
Pulling back from the cold glass that was filled with visages of gray skies and plummeting raindrops, he rubbed his face fiercely with his icy fingers, but even those sensations seemed so far away. He splayed his fingers across his eyes and turned to the side so he could stare at Rude, who was watching him with an outer appearance of calm. However, Reno could feel his friend's worry even though the emotion didn't readily show itself in his weary green eyes.  
  
"You look bad, Rude," he said jokingly.  
  
"You look worse," the tall Turk replied quietly.  
  
A wan smile came to Reno's thin lips. "I'll just bet I do."  
  
"You should get some rest," Rude suggested.  
  
Reno was too tired to argue. Besides, he suddenly became very aware of the fatigue he felt in his body and mind. "Yeah," he muttered, turning towards the bed where Elena still slumbered peacefully, curled into a ball on one end of the comforter. He looked back at his friend. "And you, Rude? Don't you need to sleep?"  
  
"I'm fine where I am," Rude replied, settling himself in his chair, long legs extended on the carpet beneath him.  
  
"You don't look comfortable to me," Reno commented, slowly easing himself onto the edge of the mattress so as not to wake Elena with the sudden shift in weight.  
  
Rude closed his eyes and smiled slightly. "Don't worry about me, Reno."  
  
"Yeah, yeah," Reno muttered as he removed his boots, feeling like a child being scolded. He laid his head on the pillow, drawing his aching legs onto the bed with him. After a brief hesitation, he scooted backwards until he felt his back come into contact with Elena, his cool skin becoming warm with her body's heat. Reno wasn't really all that cold; he just wanted to know that she was there behind him.  
  
He listened to the rain pelting the walls of the restaurant before whispering, "Hey, Rude?"  
  
"Hm?" came the faint answer.  
  
Reno gripped a fistful of the comforter in one of his hands, fascinated with how his knuckles bulged beneath his pale, nearly translucent skin.  
  
//Like I'm disappearing or something//  
  
"Nothing," he said, voice barely audible. "Just…thanks for waiting up for me."  
  
Quiet laugher issued from Rude's shadowy form. "Just go to sleep, Reno."  
  
As soon as the word "sleep" found its way to Reno's ears, his body began an automatic shutdown while his mind was still aware. It was an odd sensation, actually, to feel his muscles slowly relax one by one, to feel Somnus begin to embrace him, making his eyelids flutter shut as his companion Morpheus, god of dreams, thankfully robbed Reno of all lingering thoughts of the past. For once, the Turk was given the mercy of mythological guardians keeping faces from both the present and beyond the grave from haunting his dreams.  
  
The last things Reno saw before his eyes slid shut were his own hand lying pale and drained on the brightly colored comforter and the rain falling like tears outside the window.  
  
~owari ch. 31  
  
Author's note: Sorry it took so long. I've been really busy as of late. -_- This chapter was very Turk-centric because practically everyone was way overdue for some character development. And yes, I do know that I've neglected some characters for a while because I've stupidly taken on the task of developing ten characters at once, establishing several different pairings other than the main one of Vincent/Yuffie AND keeping a plot going at the same time. It's hard work, you know. Sorry if I sound grumpy. I have a big fat headache right now. X_X But on the brighter side, I ordered a Rurouni Kenshin soundtrack off of Ebay, and it finally came in today! I'm listening to it right now. ^_^  
  
Also, I have a new e-mail address:  
  
catalina_valentine@yahoo.com 


	34. Scare Tactics

"Sink to the Bottom With You"  
  
Chapter 32: Scare Tactics  
  
"If I told him not to go down to the cellar, you know where he would tell me to shove it." Cloud Strife  
  
THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO INDARKNESS, WINNER OF THE 7777 COUNTER-FIC PRIZE, WHOSE ONLY REQUEST WAS FOR ME TO WORK MORE ON "SINK"! DOMO ARIGATOU! ^^  
  
"You have failed," she said icily.  
  
Montana couldn't resist scowling at her back even though he knew it was not his place to be angry. "I know," he mumbled.  
  
Jezebel made no reply to his begrudging admission, but Montana really hadn't expected one. Though a sensuous woman when it suited her fancy, Jezebel was all business when it came to fulfilling the Master's commands. Montana had been her "partner" for years and knew that her condescending attitude was perfectly normal, but…still…he hated it when she actually had a REAL reason for talking down to him.  
  
He had failed. Miserably.  
  
Heedless of the rain rolling down his face, Montana allowed his green eyes to remain riveted on Jezebel's back though he kept a careful watch of her feet and hands. Sometimes she liked to teach him "lessons" when he did something she found displeasing. Montana was sure Jezebel's hand-to-hand fighting abilities were not superior to his, but the woman was full of nasty surprises. At least she didn't have her scythe with her…  
  
"Why are you lingering back there?" she suddenly demanded, half-turning so that he could see her profile, which was nearly hidden underneath the strands of saturated brown hair that clung to the sides of her face. "Come here and stand next to me."  
  
Montana snorted, making it clear he didn't trust the woman's intentions, but he began walking warily towards her, bare feet sinking into puddles that had gathered on the cement of the rooftop, little pools of quivering raindrops huddling together as if cold. He stopped slightly behind Jezebel, careful to keep a certain distance away from her.  
  
"I won't beat your pathetic ass this time," she said without turning around. "But we are in a near-crisis situation here, Montana. Failure simply isn't an option."  
  
Shoving his hands in the pockets of his baggy white pants, the man muttered, "Yeah, yeah, I know. I took it for granted that the Myrmidon would be able to eliminate the two at the bar. My fault. Totally my fault."  
  
"Glad to hear you still have your wits about you," Jezebel deadpanned. "Now come HERE."  
  
Though he bristled at the direct order, Montana sauntered up beside her like a dog that had just been admonished for stealing a biscuit. From their vantage point on top of a tall hotel building, he and Jezebel had a clear view of the street below them, wide and glistening with rain. He had found Jezebel in the restaurant district, standing alone on top of this building. What for, he didn't know, but he had a feeling he was about to find out.  
  
"Look over there," Jezebel ordered, pointing to the brightly lit building across the street, oblivious to the rivulets of rain streaming down her muscular arm.  
  
Frowning, Montana looked where her finger indicated and found a simple two- story wooden building with the words "Moonbeam Café" emblazoned above the doorway in large block letters. Below it, in smaller script, read, "Restaurant and bar."  
  
"It's a restaurant," Montana said carefully. If Jezebel had hoped to make him feel inferior and stupid by asking him a trick question, she was certainly succeeding.  
  
Jezebel glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, her condescending tone suddenly escalating to an even higher degree than normal. "Don't tell me you don't sense who is in there?"  
  
A sour expression came to the man's face. "I don't want to play these games with you," he grumbled irritably, then decided to take a shot in the dark. "Is AVALANCHE in there?"  
  
"Yes. As well as Titus."  
  
"What?!" Montana practically yelled, whirling on his companion with a look of unadulterated shock on his handsome face. "You're kidding me? He's thrown in with AVALANCHE?!"  
  
"No, idiot," Jezebel snapped, shoving some of her waterlogged hair away from her eyes as she explained, "As you know, my mission was to come here to Junon and destroy Titus as soon as he surfaced. Unfortunately, though, AVALANCHE beat me to the punch and somehow managed to kidnap both him and his infamous little whore before I could even get close to them."  
  
Montana's hands clenched into fists as he glared at the restaurant with renewed vigor. "So Titus is in there…as a prisoner?"  
  
"That certainly seems to be the case, but as ironic as this situation may be, it greatly hinders our plans. Our mission is to take out Titus and all those loyal to him, but so long as he's safe within the womb of AVALANCHE, we can't touch him."  
  
"But aren't we supposed to wipe out AVALANCHE as well?"  
  
"In the end, I suppose. But that is not our primary objective. Besides, remember the Master gave strict orders that Yuffie Kisaragi is not to be harmed."  
  
Montana bared his teeth in what might have been a smile, but it came out more like a wicked snarl. "Just one little brat. The rest of them are cannon fodder. We should just barge in there and destroy Titus while all of them are still unaware of our presence here!"  
  
Icy brown eyes suddenly locked onto his face. "Your lust for revenge clouds your mind, Montana. You've said many moronic things in the past, but calling AVALANCHE 'cannon fodder' has to one of your more dim-witted comments. AVALANCHE and the Turks may be many things, but 'cannon fodder' is most certainly not one of them."  
  
"Hey!" Montana protested angrily. "I was just—"  
  
"Shut up!" Jezebel snapped. "Since you don't have your head screwed on straight, I'M in charge of this mission since I know that if I surrender control over to YOUR hands, you'll probably fuck everything up! Timing is vital right now, Montana. Our underground lair has collapsed, and the Master is in the process of relocating the faction via the subterranean tunnels. AVALANCHE not only infiltrated our lair, but they rescued Yuffie Kisaragi in the process, and the President of Neo-Shinra has gone missing from his prison cell. In case you haven't noticed, our world is falling apart around our ears."  
  
"I KNOW all that!" Montana exclaimed, green eyes flashing with indignation. "I KNOW timing is vital, and I KNOW what's happening with the faction!"  
  
"Then quit acting so stupid," Jezebel seethed in a frighteningly cold voice. "AVALANCHE will not be releasing Titus until they receive answers to all the questions I'm certain they have."  
  
"Titus won't talk," Montana said immediately.  
  
"His bitch might, though," Jezebel countered, her gaze drifting back towards the bar. "Though I'm fairly certain AVALANCHE won't torture him, remember that Titus has no affiliation with our faction any longer. Spilling all our secrets probably won't faze him in the slightest."  
  
"That's why we need to silence him before he does!"  
  
Jezebel scowled. "You're not thinking again! With a group this large, the two of us, despite our strength, are at a tactical disadvantage. What we need to do is whittle away at their numbers. If we destroy the weaker ones first, the morale of the remaining others will drop, making them easy targets."  
  
Montana frowned at his companion and then in the direction of the restaurant across the street, an establishment filled to the brim with his enemies. Since they were all unawares, Montana believed it would be *tactically* prudent to attack while the element of surprise was still theirs for the taking. But…  
  
"You make it all sound so simple and easy," he grumbled to his partner, crouching agilely on the rooftop. He always felt like too big of a target when he was standing on a high place.  
  
Jezebel remained on her feet, infernally unafraid and confident. "It *is* simple," she sniffed disdainfully. "However, this isn't going to be easy…not one bit…"  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Titus grimaced as he shifted position, the cold cement floor of the cellar scraping underneath the soles of his boots. His arms cramped terribly, just as they had been for the past five hours. It seemed that every time he was able to ease the ache out of one muscle, another would contract and freeze, putting him in a world of discomfort. Of course, Titus had been chained, bound, and tortured in the past; this was small beans compared to some of his more…"exotic" experiences.  
  
Stretching his long legs out in front of him, his eyes roved around the cellar for the millionth time, taking in the dusty shelves built into the walls, the large crates filled with who-knew-what, and the wooden stairs leading up to the door he knew was locked and deadbolted from the other side. To top it all off, he could sense that the door was guarded by two AVALANCHE members. Which ones he didn't know, but he could feel their calculating minds like thick-plated steel flattened against the cellar door – a metaphysical barrier.  
  
He and Fa-Li wouldn't be escaping anytime soon.  
  
Titus' eyes drifted from his dark surroundings to the woman bound to the chair in the center of the room. Since her back was to him, he could see nothing of her face. However, the image of a wilted flower came to mind as he traced the curve of her shoulders, which sagged in defeat, and her long dark hair, tangled and dirty as it hung down her back and around her head like the hands of an ancient crone, gnarled and knobby.  
  
Right after the tragic blowout with that red-haired Turk, Fa-Li had wept softly, half out of terror and half out of something else that Titus didn't want to even bother attempting to discern. He could understand the terror part, though; never before in his life had he seen such a maniacal gleam of animosity as the one he had beheld in the Turk's eyes. Keep a beast locked up in a cage for a long time, and it becomes wild with the need for escape. Human emotions were much the same way, and Titus could feel the Turk festering with such hostility and rage that was ready to overflow at any second.  
  
//The proverbial walking time bomb. There's one in every group.//  
  
Titus wished he could distance his own emotions from the situation, but he found it virtually impossible when Fa-Li filled the room with the bittersweet musk of her secret internal agony. During the course of their relationship, Titus had never seen or heard her cry. But even though she shed no tears for *him*, she certainly wasted no time dissolving into hysterics over that redheaded Turk. Her sobs had begun the moment AVALANCHE had left the cellar to pursue their spastic colleague.  
  
Titus was surprised how much that bothered him.  
  
He had to admit, however, that the woman bound to the chair five feet away from the tips of his boots barely resembled the promiscuous creature with whom he had had a torrid love affair for two years. Her personality had done a complete one-eighty within the past few days, and Titus knew that the individual who was his only companion in this dark, dank cellar had to be the woman who had hid behind Fa-Li's expertly constructed mask for years and years. Gone was the woman who lived only for sensual pleasures, and in her place was this weary, melancholy creature that wept for a past that Titus knew not an inkling of.  
  
A painful cramp suddenly spread up the entire length of his back, and Titus sharply twisted his body in an effort to ease the aggravating discomfort. The metal of his handcuffs clanged against the pipe he was chained to, and Fa-Li stirred.  
  
"Titus?" she asked in a low, timid voice.  
  
The man grit his teeth to suppress the urge to tell her to shut up. He was in no mood to talk to her at the moment.  
  
A short sigh escaped her lips, a lonely sound in the silent cellar. "It's fine if you don't want to talk to me ever again. I don't really care." A brief pause, and then her voice came in a hushed, fearful whisper, "That man is going to kill me, Titus."  
  
He could hear the tears in her voice, but he still gave no reply.  
  
"I never thought I'd see him again after all these years," she continued, nasal voice trembling and echoing against his wall of stillness. "It's been such a long time. I knew he had joined the Turks and everything, but…"  
  
"Your obsession with Turks," Titus stated flatly. "Aside from seduction, the Turks were the only other things you had knowledge of. Now I know why…"  
  
//All those years…//  
  
Fa-Li's shoulders trembled as a shudder ran through her body. "You're so cruel to me, Titus. You have no heart whatsoever."  
  
//…all her men…//  
  
Titus replied disinterestedly, "Believe what you wish, but you'll get no pity from me."  
  
//…she was searching for him…//  
  
"I never expected any pity from *you*, Titus," she told him harshly, not bothering to disguise the way her tears warped her voice. "You who's so cold and callous and distant! You were never like any of the other men…"  
  
//…searching for a man with his face…//  
  
"Then why did you even become my lover?" Titus asked with forced offhandedness. "I'm nothing at all like that *man*."  
  
//…a man who was just like him…//  
  
"His name is Reno," Fa-Li snapped coldly, a bit of steel sharpening her voice. "Reno Akuma Mitsuru."  
  
//…the only one that ever meant anything to her…//  
  
"You followed me around because you knew I would be close to the Turks," Titus said in a voice that seemed soft and harsh at the same time. "And all the while, you knew that if we were discovered, you would come face to face with the person who wants you dead more than anyone else on the face of the Planet. Masochism at its best. You're a real stickler for suffering, you know?"  
  
"I know!" Fa-Li whisper-screamed, jerking against her ropes in obvious irritation. "I love suffering! Is that what you want to hear, Titus?! I loved watching Reno from afar…and thinking about him every goddamn day of my miserable life! I love being so afraid of him that I wish I could just die right now rather than face him again! And I love being locked up in this hellhole with a bastard like you!! There, I admitted it! Are you HAPPY now…Ti…tus?"  
  
As Fa-Li proceeded to dissolve into weeping again, Titus glared at the back of her chair, at the ropes binding her, at the trembling of her slender shoulders. His eyes narrowed, and a cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.  
  
"You really are a masochist," he told her flatly. "You're still in love with him, aren't you?"  
  
"Yes!" she declared tearfully, voice raw with emotion. "God…I am, aren't I? I can't stand that he hates me. I…I…he's still so beautiful……wonder where he got those scars from? He didn't have them before…"  
  
Titus did not deign to reply, and the silence fell thickly between them. He felt Fa-Li pulling away from the conversation, away from the little slice of time called Here and Now, as she rapidly descended into a well of memories that housed a pain she seemed to revel in. The only other person Titus knew that adored the intensity of pain was Ajax, and the current High Priest was…twisted, to say the least. Not exactly a compliment to be dumped on the same boat with him, as far as Titus was concerned.  
  
Closing his eyes, the man leaned back until he felt the pipe's metallic coolness against the small of his back and the rough texture of the wall against his skull. The darkness behind his eyelids was clean and unbroken, unlike the world around him, which was tainted and falling apart more and more with each passing second. AVALANCHE. The impending collapse of the faction. His humiliating capture. And, of course, there was Fa-Li…but there was always Fa-Li.  
  
//Or should I say…Alette?// Titus thought with no small amount of bitterness. //Everything's being shot to hell, and I find out that the one person I thought I knew inside and out is a complete stranger. But then again…how many people know about me? No one. Not a conscious decision of mine, though. That's simply the way it has to be.//  
  
Titus resisted the urge to sigh. Loneliness crashed down on him as it did from time to time, but he felt it even more acutely locked down here in a dark cellar with only a single light bulb waiting placidly to pierce the blackness and a disheartened Fa-Li as his sole companion. He could feel the buzzing energy of the two sentries at the door – whoever they were – and up above in the restaurant itself, he felt a mass of gently seething, contorting power that had to be the remaining members of AVALANCHE…all together in one room.  
  
Eyes still closed, Titus allowed a grim smile to come to his lips. AVALANCHE was plotting something…  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
After fifteen minutes of arguing, Yuffie came to the conclusion that Cloud Strife was not one of her favorite people.  
  
Sure, it had been great when she first waltzed down the stairs clad in a pair of denim shorts and an oversized sweater than kept falling off her shoulders. Ecstatic were her friends. Yuffie received smiles from just about everyone and a massive, bone-crushing bear hug from Barret that left her feeling like a tube of oversqueezed toothpaste afterwards. But she loved every minute of it. She loved her friends. She loved the rain. She loved her narrow-ass shoulders and tiny feet. All was great. All was good.  
  
Until Cloud decided he wanted to be an assmunch.  
  
"I said 'no,' Yuffie," he repeated for what had to be the millionth time in a row.  
  
Yuffie barely repressed the urge to scream and snarled through clenched teeth, "I KNOW that! I heard you the first time!"  
  
Mako blue eyes glared at her from underneath thick strands of blonde hair. "Then why do you keep asking me?"  
  
"Because you're being stupid!" Yuffie blurted, unable to restrain her angry words.  
  
"Yuffie," Red XIII calmly spoke up from his position sprawled on top of one of the tables (with Kyra's permission, of course). "I'm sure Cloud believes it's imprudent for you to go alone to speak with your kidnappers. You've just recently recovered from your…illness, and facing the Running Man this soon might be too big of a shock for you."  
  
"His name is TITUS, okay?" Yuffie snapped, her quick tongue leaping at the slightest chance to argue. "And you don't understand, I HAVE to talk to him!"  
  
Cloud glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "When did you get on a first name basis with our enemy, Yuffie?" His voice was cold as ice.  
  
Yuffie's eyes flared at what he was implying. Angrily, she sprung up from her chair, small hands clenched into fists. "Are you suggesting I'm a traitor?!" she yelled at her leader from across the table. "You haven't even heard all of what happened down there, and already you're jumping to conclusions!"  
  
"Are you saying that the Running Man ISN'T our enemy after all?" Cloud challenged, staring hard at her. "I find that difficult to believe."  
  
A scream of pure frustration bubbled up in Yuffie's throat, but she stubbornly swallowed it, only to have it scald her stomach like acid. "You still think I'm just a stupid little brat, don't you?!" she demanded, eyes riveted on Cloud though her desperate question didn't just apply to him. "Why can't you believe me?!"  
  
"Yuffie," Cloud sighed, all the anger draining from his eyes, the two- dimensional emotion unable to withstand the pent-up force of Yuffie's very real pain.  
  
To her embarrassment, the young ninja found herself on the verge of tears. Dammit! In her opinion, nothing ruined a perfectly good ranting session like a bout of untimely tears streaming from her angry eyes. But she couldn't help herself! She needed to talk to Titus, and she just wasn't getting through to anyone!  
  
"Please, Cloud, just trust me!" she exclaimed, some of her hostility leaking away now that it didn't have Cloud's mutual anger to thrive on. "Please, let me talk to Titus!"  
  
The AVALANCHE leader shook his spiky head stubbornly. "No, Yuffie. I can't let you do that."  
  
A fine but intense trembling began in her body, originating in the pit of her stomach and spreading outwards to all her limbs with the vigor of a wild forest fire. The room wavered around her, lost in the force of her frustration, and she felt her muscles tense with anger. She was going to scream now. Boy, was she EVER going to scream!  
  
Cold, metallic fingers suddenly fastened around her arm, their owner careful not to pierce clothing or flesh with the sharp digits. Biting back her scream, Yuffie whirled to see Vincent staring up at her with cool eyes, their crimson irises accented by the blood-red bandana that peeked through the darkness of his hair, the ends of it trailing down his back. His claw lightly gripped her arm just above the elbow, the tarnished gold inhumanly steady against the angry quakes coursing through her limbs.  
  
Fully expecting Vincent to scold her like a little child, Yuffie had a harsh reply armed and ready to lash out at him. Only, Vincent didn't reprimand her. There wasn't any "Sit down, Yuffie" or "Behave, Yuffie." All he did was stare up at her with those frighteningly calm eyes of his, and for the first time, Yuffie noticed that he had flecks of some darker color forming a flowery shape around his pupil, like abstract designs dancing an endless waltz upon a crimson lake.  
  
Abruptly, she felt her anger flow away from her like rain down a pane of glass. The sensation left her body feeling drained and unstable, and she plopped down in her uncomfortable wooden chair with a sigh. She stared morosely at the surface of the wooden table before she realized that everyone in the room was gazing at her like she had grown a second head. Flushing, she slumped in her seat and glared at the room's occupants.  
  
//Gawd. They just don't understand! How can I convince them to let me talk to Titus?//  
  
For some reason unbeknownst to her, Yuffie felt a driving need to speak with her former kidnapper. Sure, he had left her to be tortured by those nasty Hissers, and Yuffie would never forgive him for that, but Titus had also been the one who told her to keep all her hidden knowledge away from the grasp of the Hissers, something that Yuffie liked to think she had succeeded at. All that kidnapper-sadistic-bastard stuff put aside, Titus didn't seem that THAT bad of a guy. He sure as hell didn't seem to like the "Master" – something that earned him a brownie point in Yuffie's book. And second…well…  
  
//Nope. Titus only has one brownie point…but I still need to talk to him!//  
  
"Let's look at this from a logical perspective," Vincent suddenly spoke up, and Yuffie glanced at him in surprise. Mr. My-Mouth-Has-Been-Figuratively- Stapled-Shut was actually going to say something for a change?  
  
"Just what chances of success do you think you'll have interrogating the Running Man?" Vincent asked Cloud, voice deep and calm.  
  
Cloud lifted an eyebrow and scratched his head, the leather of his glove glaringly dark against his golden spikes. "Honestly? Slim to none."  
  
"Then I don't see why there is any objection to Yuffie talking to the Running Man," Vincent stated bluntly. "Apparently some type of 'bond' was forged between them during Yuffie's time down there. Out of everyone here, I think he would be more likely to talk to her."  
  
"Still don't like it," Barret grumbled, folding his arms across his massive chest. "Jes ain't good to be around those kinds of people for so long."  
  
Yuffie blinked, still trying to register the fact that Vincent had actually stood up for her. What was next? The Apocalypse? "What do you mean by that, Barret? It's not like dumb ol' Titus is going to try and KIDNAP me again."  
  
"Yuffie," Cloud spoke up, eyes serious. "The main reason we're not letting you talk to the Running Man alone is because every enemy we encountered from his faction seems to be skilled in some type of mind control. Those brown creatures Barret described did SOMETHING to Cid that caused him to become mentally unbalanced. Ajax and Montana are both able to summon creatures without spoken words. I've fought against the Running Man in battle, Yuffie. He was a tough opponent to beat even though the odds were in our favor. Who knows what else he's capable of?"  
  
"You think Yuffie's under some type of mind control?" Tifa asked worriedly from her place at the bar. Behind her, Kyra was cleaning glasses and trying to appear as if she wasn't listening carefully to everything that transpired in the room.  
  
"Mind control!" Yuffie exclaimed incredulously before Cloud could reply. "That's a bunch of BS, Cloud, and you KNOW it! Do I LOOK like I'm under mind control?"  
  
"It could be passive mind control," Rude suggested. He was seated on one of the bar stools next to Tifa.  
  
Yuffie spun and wagged a finger at the Turk. "Be quiet, Rudey-poo! You're just making that up!"  
  
"Back off, brat," Reno snapped, coming to his friend's defense.  
  
Yuffie had to twist around in her chair yet again to get a clear view of the dark corner Reno was lurking in, slouched in one lonely chair with half of his face shrouded in shadows. The ninja had a nice, witty comeback ready and waiting, but for some reason, she was reluctant to snap at Reno. Vincent had filled her in on what little he knew about Reno's emotional condition, showing her the bruise on his neck to prove just how unhinged the Turk really was. Looking at those aquamarine eyes glittering at her from the shadows, Yuffie didn't detect any sign of madness, but still…she wasn't too keen on the idea of Reno blowing up in her face so she opted to keep her mouth shut and instead turned her attention back to Cloud.  
  
"Pleeaase, let me talk to Titus," she begged, putting careful emphasis on the first syllable and trying to appear as innocent as possible. The "Angel Yuffie" face always worked on strangers, but there was always the chance that Cloud would prove to be impervious to her charms.  
  
The swordsman's resolute expression wavered slightly.  
  
//It's working!//  
  
"Please, Cloud," she whispered imploringly, clasping her hands together in front of her face - the visage of purity.  
  
The blonde's stoic countenance broke completely as he threw his gloved hands up in the air in exasperation. "Dammit, Yuffie!" he cursed her with a strange breed of weary affection.  
  
"Please!" she exclaimed, just for overkill's sake.  
  
Cloud's eyebrows snapped together in a half-hearted attempt to redeem himself by acting stern. "Fine! You can talk to the Running Man, but we're all going to be down there with you, watching his every move."  
  
Yuffie hesitated for a split second. She wasn't sure Titus would talk to her in the presence of the others, but it was worth a try...  
  
"Alright!" she declared. "You got yourself a deal, Mr. Strife!"  
  
Cloud just glared at her with a sour expression on his handsome face.  
  
A stray thought interrupted Yuffie's session of cheeky grinning. "Wait a minute! You've got to shake on it!"  
  
Practically scrambling out of her chair, Yuffie lurched forward so that her stomach was pressed flush against the plastic tabletop as she strained to reach Cloud with her not-so-long arms.  
  
"Yuffie!" Barret roared. "Girl, get offa the table! You gonna get in trouble!"  
  
"People eat on that, Yuffie," Red added.  
  
The young woman cheerfully ignored them and stuck her hand in Cloud's face. "Shake," she ordered.  
  
In spite of Barret's outcry, Cloud didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that Yuffie was sprawled across the entire length of the table, waving her hand under his nose.  
  
"You could have just got up and walked around," he told her, a smile curving his lips as he shook the young ninja's hand. His grip swallowed her fingers.  
  
"That would have been boring, though," Yuffie told him with a grin, squeezing his hand as tight as she could and trying not to cry uncle when Cloud squeezed back. The swordsman had always been fun person to play "Mercy" with.  
  
Cloud's blue eyes laughed silently at her with a brotherly friendliness that Yuffie had unfortunately been deprived of during her entire youth. No brothers, no sisters, not very many friends. Just Yuffie, her endless adventures, and her materia. How lonely she had been. Yuffie never understood the full extent of her peculiar solitude until she lay there on the table staring into Cloud's Mako-bright eyes and wondering how she had ever been happy without friends like these.  
  
She reached out and gave Cloud's spikes a playful tousle before sliding back into her seat, nearly kicking Vincent in the face on her way back. "So? Are we ready to go down there?" she asked.  
  
Barret held up one big hand. "Wait a minute. What are we gonna do about the old man?"  
  
Everyone glanced around awkwardly, an action that was needless since Cid was guarding the cellar door with Elena and Cait Sith. There was no way the pilot would be able to hear their conversation.  
  
A grim expression came to Cloud's face as he said, "I know he's…unbalanced right now, but so far we have no grounds for making him stay away from the Running Man." A mirthless smile curved his lips. "If I told him not to go down to the cellar, you know where he would tell me to shove it. We'll just have to keep an eye on him and watch for any erratic behavior."  
  
"Sounds like we're talking about some kind of loon here," Reno commented dryly. "What are you gonna do next? Put him in a straitjacket?"  
  
Cloud's eyes barely flicked in Reno's direction. "No," was all he said. No one else added any other comments; they were too busy concentrating on not letting their gazes drift to the redheaded Turk.  
  
"Don't forget that—" Cloud started to say.  
  
"Hey!" Reno snapped, suddenly unfolding himself from his chair in a motion so quick that it appeared he had simply snapped his body forward.  
  
Cloud frowned at the Turk, or rather, at the wall just behind the Turk. "What is it?"  
  
Reno stalked up to the table, all lanky limbs and flashing eyes. "It's common courtesy to look someone in the eye when you're talking to them," he growled, crowding in between Vincent and Barret and forcefully slamming his palms flat down on the table.  
  
"What are you talking about, Reno?" Cloud asked tiredly.  
  
"I'm talking about how everyone is avoiding me like I'm the bubonic f***ing plague!" he snapped, words dripping with bitterness.  
  
Neither Barret nor Yuffie had a smart alec remark to make about that one. Yuffie, for one, didn't want Reno turning his anger in her direction. Cloud was leader; he could take care of whatever "concerns" Reno wanted to voice. Besides…what the Turk said was true. Everyone HAD been avoiding him, Yuffie included, even though she hadn't been there when he "snapped." She heard it had been terrible, though. For her, the bruise on Vincent's pale throat was all the "terrible" she needed to see.  
  
Cloud raised his eyes and locked gazes with Reno's angry, bitter one. "Would you rather us swamp you with our heartfelt concerns so you can rudely turn our kindness away?" he asked flatly.  
  
Reno straightened, eyes widening almost imperceptibly.  
  
"It's the kind of thing you would do, Reno," Cloud continued. "You don't like people near you when you're feeling…vulnerable."  
  
A spark of annoyance slunk back into Reno's eyes, but it was a mere shadow of the fury that had dwelt there seconds before. "I'm not vulnerable," he growled half-heartedly.  
  
"Fine," Cloud said levelly. "You're not vulnerable."  
  
Reno gave an exasperated sigh and flung his pale hands up in the hair. "Whatever! I just want everyone to know that I'm not going to need a goddamn straitjacket either."  
  
Cloud nodded. "That's good to hear."  
  
"DAMN good to hear," Yuffie echoed before she could stop herself. She clamped her hands over her mouth in embarrassment. Geez! Reno just had a nervous breakdown, and here she was harassing him about being a fruit loop!  
  
To her surprise, though, the Turk only laughed and tugged her hair gently. "Don't worry about it, brat."  
  
Yuffie decided she wanted to be bold and craned her neck backwards so she could stare up at Reno. "I'll let the 'brat' go this time, but only 'cause you went bonkers," she teased.  
  
A grin split Reno's upside-down face, and he pinched her cheek. Hard. "Fine by me." He turned his attention back to the others, laughter draining from his face. "Can we get this over with?"  
  
Cloud nodded and rose from his chair, face dead serious. "Remember, Reeve is our priority. We NEED to find out what happened to him. All other things have to take a backseat for now."  
  
No one answered. The sound of chairs scraping against the green carpeting filled the room as Yuffie and the others began to file out of the restaurant area. Yuffie clenched and unclenched her hands unconsciously, realizing that she was nervous.  
  
//I finally get to talk to Titus. Gawd…what the hell am I going to say to him? Oh well…I'll figure it out later…//  
  
Yuffie waved to Kyra as she left the main room. The auburn-haired woman waved back, pristine towel trailing in the air. She had been polishing the same glass for half an hour now. Apparently, AVALANCHE's conversations were more stimulating than those of your average customer.  
  
Then Yuffie found herself surrounded by darkness and silence as she began the trek down to the cellar. Cautiously, she glanced around her to see that all her friends slipping on their "game faces," all emotion draining from their eyes. Rude had his sunglasses back on, and Yuffie imagined that Red's one golden eye had a colder, more bestial gleam to it. Even Tifa's normally open expression looked empty. How depressing.  
  
//Can't go showing emotions to the enemy, I guess. I don't think it matters for me, though. Titus has already seen me at my crybaby worst.//  
  
A familiar scent drifted to her nose like the lingering musk of cologne after its owner had long departed. Yuffie turned to find Vincent walking a couple of steps behind her. His face was set in unyielding lines, and strands of ebony hair fell across his forehead, making his crimson eyes flare as bright as fire against the dark strands. No change of expression needed there. Vincent was still Vincent, regardless of the situation. There was a strange comfort in that.  
  
Yuffie fell back to walk beside him. "Hey, Vinnie," she whispered, figuring if she was going to break the unspoken vow of silence, she might as well do it quietly. She didn't know why she was bothering to talk to Vincent anyways; it wasn't like he was such a sparkling conversationalist.  
  
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Are you alright, Yuffie?"  
  
She blinked. "Of course," she said, puzzled. "I'm just fine and dandy. Why?"  
  
The corners of Vincent's mouth twitched in what was probably a frown. "The Running Man is very dangerous, Yuffie."  
  
Yuffie sighed as she maneuvered out of the way to avoid a collision with a small table adorned with a vase and one lonely white flower. The motion put her arm right up against Vincent's, her shoulder brushing the warm solidity of his bicep.  
  
"I KNOW he's dangerous, Vinnie," she grumped. "He DID kidnap me, you know."  
  
"But then you went and made friends with him," Vincent pointed out, voice flat and emotionless.  
  
Yuffie scowled. "Titus is not my friend! And if you think he's so dangerous, why did you tell Cloud that it was okay for me to talk to him in the first place?"  
  
Vincent just snorted and stared straight ahead. Yuffie was amused; she had never heard Vincent snort before. He did it with slightly more grace than others, but it still sounded goofy coming from such a "dark" and "mysterious" man. Mystery men were not meant to snort like pigs.  
  
So tickled was Yuffie that she grinned cheekily and nudged Vincent with her elbow. "Aww! You're jealous, aren't you, Vinnnie?" she taunted good- naturedly.  
  
Vincent's eyes widened with indignation.  
  
Yuffie fluffed up her shoulder-length brown hair, preening melodramatically. "Yes, I know everyone wants a foxy lady like me, but you're going to have to wait in line just like everyone else!"  
  
"Ain't nothing foxy about your skinny ass," Reno muttered from behind her.  
  
Yuffie whirled and pinned the Turk with dark glare, all psyched to chew him out when Vincent suddenly took hold of her arm.  
  
"We're here," he informed her, gaze riveted straight ahead. "If you're interested in going to see your friend, you'd best get up front with Cloud."  
  
"Titus is not my friend," Yuffie repeated grumpily, moving forward as Vincent's warm fingers slid away from her arm. Actually, she would have much rather hung out in the back with Mr. Stony Silence Valentine and Royal Pain in the Arse Reno, but she figured if she was going to get any chance of talking to Titus before someone else butted in, she had to be on top of things.  
  
Slinking past Barret and Tifa and hopping clear over Red (much to the lion- like beast's displeasure), Yuffie made her way to the front to see Cloud conversing with Cid, Elena, and Cait.  
  
The young swordsman had a half-worried/half-stern expression on his face as he addressed Cid. "Are you sure you're alright?"  
  
Cid's blue eyes flashed darkly, and he was just about to reply when Elena and Cait interrupted him, chorusing, "He's f***ing fine so leave him the f*** alone."  
  
Cloud blinked, looking stunned. Cid just snorted and puffed resentfully on his cigarette.  
  
"Cait and I asked him the same thing, too. That was the answer he gave us," Elena explained dryly, absently fidgeting with her blond hair, tucking it behind her ears and then untucking it the next second. Her brown eyes were wider than normal, darting around constantly as if seeing so many people gathered in one hallway unnerved her. She more closely resembled a nervous rabbit than the tough Turk she often tried to be.  
  
//Great// Yuffie thought, wiping her sweaty palms on her shorts. //Is everyone gonna have an anxiety attack down there? Titus is going to think we're a bunch of weenies.//  
  
"Hey, Yuffie," Cait chimed, sitting casually on his moogle and tossing his megaphone from paw to paw. "What are you doing up here with us losers?" He grinned impishly. "Shouldn't you be back there chilling with Viiiiiiiincent?"  
  
Yuffie's eyes bulged at the little bugger's audacity. "Shut up! You're just jealous because I find Vinnie better company than YOU!"  
  
Cloud held up a gloved hand, expression sterner than Yuffie had ever seen. She immediately shut her mouth, back instinctively snapping ramrod straight like a soldier at attention. Geez, Cloud was really serious about this interrogation thing…  
  
"Barret and Cait," the AVALANCHE leader ordered, "you two will stand guard at the base of the cellar stairs in case one of the prisoners tries to escape. Vincent, Tifa, Red, you flank the woman and make sure that she doesn't work her way free of her ropes. The rest of you, stick close to me. Especially you, Yuffie."  
  
The young ninja blinked in surprise. "Huh?"  
  
"Don't leave my side," Cloud repeated firmly.  
  
Bewildered, Yuffie stared into Cloud's Mako blue eyes. What was this all of a sudden? Just because she had been captured once didn't mean she was a weakling. Or…was it because Cloud really thought Titus was THAT dangerous?  
  
"Sure, Cloud," Yuffie said quietly. "I understand."  
  
Cloud nodded stiffly, strands of blond hair fluttering near the corners of his eyes. In one deft motion, he reached out and shoved open the cellar door.  
  
Darkness yawned before them, and Yuffie swallowed convulsively, not trusting the sight of that abysmal blackness even though she knew the only things lurking down there were Titus, Fa-Li, and a bunch of old crates. Cloud went down first, followed by Cid. Cait Sith hopped to one side of the doorway and gestured for Yuffie to proceed, giving her a cheery thumbs-up sign. She didn't bother to return the kindly effort, bracing herself as she stepped into the darkness.  
  
The smell of old mildew and gunpowder assaulted her nostrils, a mixture that left her senses tingling with the impression of impending danger. She suddenly wished she had brought the Conformer with her.  
  
//Stop it, Yuffie!// she scolded herself. //Don't be a pansy! It's just Titus and Fa-Li…you don't have to be nervous about seeing them again. What am I going to say to Titus anyways? Should I get mad at him for kidnapping me and making me suffer?//  
  
The stair underneath her sneaker creaked suddenly, and Yuffie started, instinctively groping for a railing that wasn't there. Her balance threatened to betray her, but a gloved hand suddenly settled on her shoulder, holding her steady until she regained equilibrium.  
  
"You okay?" Tifa asked softly.  
  
Yuffie bobbed her head quickly, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and relief wash over her. "I'm fine. I just can't see the stairs. I've never been down here before."  
  
Tifa's other hand came to gently clasp Yuffie's remaining shoulder. "You'll be fine," she said comfortingly. "There aren't too many left."  
  
"Leviathan be praised," Yuffie muttered, cautiously lowering her foot to the next step. She could sense Cloud and Cid moving around in the darkness close by, and she gratefully hung onto the comfort of Tifa's presence at her back until she felt her sneakers come into contact with the wonderfully solid concrete floor of the cellar.  
  
Just as she was about to let out a sigh of relief, a single light suddenly snapped on, burning away the darkness so quickly that Yuffie had to blink rapidly to chase away the multi-colored spots that now danced playfully in her vision.  
  
Fa-Li sat bound in the center of the cellar, a lone light bulb suspended by a ratty string swinging gently in the stale air over her dark head. Yuffie's eyes widened slightly as they took in the layers and layers of rope that encompassed the woman's petite frame, making it look like some unseen beast was in the process of devouring her. Her dark eyes were averted, head lowered so that her tangled hair hid her face from view. She was trembling and muttering a Wutainese prayer under her breath.  
  
Yuffie opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but a flash of white against the far wall suddenly captured her attention. Titus was either chained or handcuffed to some sort of pipe that ran parallel to the floor, his white- blond hair shimmering like moonlight in the dark of the night. His eyes were closed as if asleep.  
  
"He is SO not asleep," Yuffie growled to herself, clenching her hands into fists as she stormed past Cloud, heading right for Titus.  
  
"Yu—" Cloud warned, reaching out with the intention of grabbing the girl by the shoulder.  
  
"Crummy bastard," Yuffie muttered angrily, and Cloud retracted his hand, not sure whether or not Yuffie had been referring to him.  
  
Yuffie marched and stood in front of Titus, her fists trembling with sudden anger. Regardless of all other factors (including her and Vincent's mutual stubbornness) Yuffie blamed Titus for her capture and subsequent torture at the hands of the Hissers. How dare he just run off and leave her there with the Cold One and his mindless hissing bastards? Titus was one of the only people who knew what the hell was going on down there, and he hadn't let her in on the secret until he was already making his great escape. Lucky bastard. Yuffie needed to release her anger on someone, and Titus seemed a better candidate than most.  
  
"Get up, Titus!" she yelled. "I KNOW you're awake, you slimy bastard!"  
  
She heard muttering behind her, but who it was or what they were grumbling out, she didn't care. All her attention was riveted on Titus.  
  
"Look at me, damn you!" she ordered, gray eyes flashing with unchecked anger. No need to hold back the intense, dark emotions that raged within her. Not for Titus.  
  
To her surprise, the man's eyes slowly slid open, the infinite emerald depths literally glowing in the darkness with a gleam that was totally unlike Mako, unlike anything ever known to man. A collective gasp rose from behind Yuffie as at last everyone clearly beheld a pair of eyes that had once belonged to someone loved and cherished by many of those present.  
  
Unfazed by Titus' cold gaze, Yuffie bent at the waist, bringing herself eye- level with the Running Man, but still out of range in case Titus decided to kick her in the face. "Yeah, bet you thought you'd never see me again, huh?" she mocked, graceful eyebrows drawn low over simmering orbs of stormy flames. "You're such as asshole! Why the HELL did you leave me down there with those....THINGS??!! Do you know what they did? Well, duh, of COURSE you know what they did! Mr. High Priest!"  
  
Soaring on the tide of angry impulse, Yuffie kicked Titus in the shin. Not hard enough to break anything, but with enough force to make him flinch and draw his leg away from her reach. "There!" she told him, still glaring. "I hope you have a nasty bruise in the morning, crum bum."  
  
Titus just stared up at her, green eyes flickering with something halfway between anger and laughter. Knowing Titus, it was probably a little bit of both. The guy had a damn WIERD sense of humor.  
  
Yuffie was contemplating whether or not stomping on the man's toes would be overkill when Vincent's low, deep voice drifted from behind her, "Yuffie, I believe it would be prudent if you would kindly stop abusing the prisoners."  
  
Not bothering to glance at Vincent, Yuffie snorted, placing her hands on her narrow hips. The sides of her oversized sweater ballooned and swallowed her hands up to the wrists. She stared down into Titus' mesmerizing eyes, at how his pupils shone astoundingly dark against the emerald seas. His handsome face was a beautiful blank that betrayed nothing of what went on inside his head. Some of his white-blond hair had fallen over one eye, adding a taste of wildness to his normally unflappable composure.  
  
"Fine," Yuffie said with a begrudging sigh. "I'm finished." She turned to see that everyone had somehow managed to maneuver to their appropriate positions. Vincent, Tifa, and Red surrounded Fa-Li like watchful sentries while Barret and Cait flanked the bottom of the stairs. The three Turks had chosen to hover in the far left corner of the room, a triad of blue suits and carefully blank expressions. To Yuffie's right was Cloud, and further beyond him, an angry-looking Cid.  
  
Rude Titus  
  
Reno Cid  
  
Elena Yuffie Cloud  
  
Tifa  
  
Vincent Fa-Li Red  
  
  
  
Barret Cait Sith  
  
"Well?" she prodded when no one moved or spoke. "Aren't you going to interrogate him?"  
  
"He looks like Aeris," Tifa said quietly.  
  
"He looks like Sephiroth," Cloud countered, voice cold as he stared deeply at Titus, who only gazed at the AVALANCHE leader impassively.  
  
An awkward silence fell after that statement; no one really wished to recall the events that befell them a year ago. In the end, all their pain and strife had been more than worthwhile, but no one could deny that their hard-won victory had been sealed in blood not their own. Sacrifices were so bittersweet, and just one glance into the Running Man's emerald eyes had reminded them of everything they had gained…and lost.  
  
"Let's start with an easy question," Cloud finally said, all his attention focused on the man who sat handcuffed to the pipe at his back. "Yuffie says your name is Titus. Is that your real name?"  
  
Titus made no reply, just continued looking steadily up at Cloud, his persistent gaze never wavering. After a few breathless moments, Cloud sharply averted his eyes, much to Yuffie's surprise. He seemed to have trouble meeting Titus' stare. That was bad. How was Cloud going to get any information out of Titus when intimidation lay thick in the air like the heavy reek of decay? And Titus sure as hell wasn't the one being intimidated, that was for sure.  
  
Though she felt she might be overstepping her boundaries, Yuffie decided to jump in. "Titus," she said, trying to conjure up her most reasonable tone. "Where's Reeve? I know you know where he is. I heard you say so in the torture chamber."  
  
Titus' green eyes flicked in her direction, and Yuffie met them without flinching. He still said nothing, but one of his pale eyebrows quirked slightly.  
  
Yuffie frowned down at him. "Okay, if you want to play the silent game, fine by me! I can keep up a one-sided conversation better than anyone! And don't act like you don't what I'm talking about, Titus, because I know you know where Reeve is…" Something suddenly occurred to her, and she turned her gaze to where the Turks remained veiled in shadows in their lonely corner. "Hey, Rude, this IS the guy you saw in Hojo's lab, right?"  
  
Though Yuffie couldn't see Rude's eyes behind the dark lenses of his sunglasses, she sensed the intensity of his stare hone in on Titus. "Yes," he replied without hesitation. "This is the one."  
  
"Okay," Yuffie said uncertainly, not knowing what to do now that she had received the confirmation.  
  
//Man…we really suck at interrogating people.//  
  
"I'll be you're laughing at us right now, Titus," Yuffie grumbled. "Well? Are you chuckling inside?"  
  
Silence, but Yuffie thought she saw a flicker of laughter in Titus' eyes. He WAS chuckling. Goody for him.  
  
"Well, I'm glad you find me so damn amusing! Now…how about telling us where Reeve is?"  
  
Titus just sat there, as unresponsive as a rock.  
  
Yuffie rubbed the back of her neck. All this tactical questioning sure took a lot out of her. She knew there was nothing she could say that would pierce all Titus' thick armor; he would never talk if he didn't want to. After all, the guy was a freaking master torturer, for crying out loud! Her questions and bantering must be only minor annoyances at best. However, what she REALLY wanted to do was talk to Titus about what had gone on during her torture – something that she blatantly refused to speak of in front of the others. It was far too personal and…humiliating. Yet, somehow, someway, she knew Titus would understand.  
  
//Please talk to me, Titus// she begged silently, staring him in the eye. //Please…//  
  
But he only gazed at her blankly. There was no sign that he had heard her. Of course he hadn't; it was impossible for humans to speak mind to mind. She was just being silly.  
  
"Mr. Titus?" Tifa suddenly spoke up, taking a cautious step towards the Running Man. Titus' eyes locked ruthlessly onto her, and Yuffie saw Tifa almost waver under that heartbreakingly familiar emerald gaze. Memories of Aeris hung thickly in the air.  
  
Burgundy eyes steady and resolute once more, Tifa drew a deep breath before continuing. "Mr. Titus, I know you probably don't really care about our feelings. You captured two of us, and then we turned around and captured you and your…friend." She faltered a bit trying to find the right title for Fa-Li. "I know two wrongs don't make a right, but for what it's worth, no one here is interested in harming you. All we want to do is find our friend again. I'm begging you, Titus or whatever your name is, *please* tell us where Reeve is! Or at least if he's even alive!"  
  
Real tears glittered in Tifa's eyes like liquid diamonds, and Yuffie felt her own throat tighten at the woman's heartfelt desperation. She was suddenly aware of her own deep-rooted worry for Reeve, and she had to scramble to fend off the flailing grasp of sudden panic.  
  
"Please!" Tifa begged again, voice sounding unnaturally loud and echoing in the cellar.  
  
Anyone's cold-hearted resolve would have withered in the face of such an outflow of raw emotion like the one that marred Tifa's pretty face, but Titus didn't so much as bat an eyelash. Just kept right on staring, unmoved by Tifa's anxious entreaty.  
  
Anger resurfaced in Yuffie's heart again, setting her blood boiling. Her eyes darkened as she pinned Titus with a glare hot enough to melt skin from bones. "Answer her, Titus!" she demanded. "Damn you, don't you care about all the pain you're causing?!"  
  
Naturally, she received no response, just the same empty emerald stare. Goddamn it all to hell if Titus wasn't as good, if not better, at hiding his emotions than Vincent was.  
  
Fists trembling with rage, Yuffie decided to grab at one last straw. She whirled around, ignoring her hair as it spun with her and planted stinging slaps on the sides of her face.  
  
"Fa-Li!" she cried, addressed the back of the woman's bowed head. "Please tell us where Reeve is!"  
  
Uneasy silence.  
  
"Please, Fa-Li, please!" Yuffie begged, humiliated to hear her voice cracking. Frustration and tears always did that to her.  
  
There was a brief hesitation that seemed to span an eternity, but then the woman's head shifted slightly, dark, tangled locks scrambling for new positions as she began to lift her head.  
  
Her nasal voice came, thick with a pain that no one in the room could comprehend. "President Reeve…of…Neo…Shinra?" she asked slowly.  
  
Yuffie's heart leapt into her throat, beating with a mixture of hope and trepidation. "Yes," she murmured. "That's him…"  
  
As if she were moving underwater, Fa-Li turned with agonizing slowness so that Yuffie could barely discern her lovely profile hidden behind the thick mass of her brown hair. The silence in the room was so heavy with dark, quaking anticipation that Yuffie half-expected to suddenly hear someone's heartbeat echoing in the abysmal void of sound.  
  
"President Reeve…" Fa-Li whispered, voice detached and dream-like. "I'm afraid…he…he…"  
  
"Fa-Li!" Titus' harsh voice suddenly lashed brutally through the air of the cellar. A whimper escaped Fa-Li's lips, and she shrank in on herself again, bowing her head and trembling like a scared rabbit.  
  
"Dammit!" Elena cursed vehemently, voice evincing nothing but pure frustration.  
  
"Fa-Li," Yuffie whispered. "Please!"  
  
The woman only trembled harder, and Yuffie suddenly knew that her silence was permanent this time. And apparently, Reno realized this is well.  
  
"This is going nowhere," he seethed, pushing himself away from the wall, body moving in slow jerky movements as he approached Titus. Beside her, Yuffie felt Cloud stiffening, and even Rude and Elena looked ambivalent, as if they couldn't decide whether to follow Reno or try to hold him back. In the end, they just stood there.  
  
Yuffie took one look at Reno's cold, forbidding expression, at the mad, desperate glint in his aquamarine eyes, and she knew they were in trouble. Instability was the last thing they needed right now, and Reno was brimming with it.  
  
"Tell me where Reeve is, NOW," Reno demanded of Titus, voice low and deadly. "No one else in this room may have qualms about killing you, but let me tell you right now that I'm not so squeamish. Blowing your brains out doesn't faze me in the slightest."  
  
If she hadn't had an unbalanced, angry Reno less than two feet away from her, Yuffie would have sighed and shook her head in chastisement. She was sure that Reno wasn't making an idle threat, and under normal circumstances – with a normal prisoner – his standard "Turk interrogation" tactics might have worked, but Titus was far, FAR from normal. Yuffie was certain that he had seen scarier things in his lifetime than pissed-off spitfires like Reno.  
  
"Back off, Reno," Cloud ordered.  
  
Reno whirled on him. "Why should I?!" he roared, fury written in every rigid line of his body. "This is my President we're talking about here! He's my responsibility!"  
  
"Reeve is our friend, too," Cloud insisted.  
  
"Well, what he f*** are you doing, then?! You're so damn scared to get your hands dirty that you can't even get information out of this guy! Hell, you can't even look him in the f***ing eye, much less make him tell you where Reeve is!"  
  
The look in Cloud's eyes hardened. "Reno, if you're going to be counterproductive, then get the hell out of here," he ordered flatly, but everyone heard the subtle menace in his voice.  
  
"F*** you," the Turk spat viciously. "It's no use trying to explain something that a do-gooder like you will never understand."  
  
Then, to everyone's surprise, the redhead turned on heel and strode out of the cellar, movements stiff and angry, like a corked bottle of emotion just awaiting the prime opportunity to explode. Barret and Cait watched him warily as he thundered up the stairs and out the door, slamming it so hard that Yuffie thought she heard some of the wood crack.  
  
Though Reno's departure sucked some of the crackling tension out of the air, the majority of it still lingered like the remains of some foul odor. Yuffie felt everyone's edginess, their frustration, their helplessness.  
  
//Crap// she thought shakily as she used the sleeve of her sweater to mop cold sweat off her forehead. //One of us is going to snap soon//  
  
Someone suddenly brushed past her, and Yuffie started slightly, only to see Vincent Valentine moving to stand in front of Titus, who watched the ominous man with wary, shifty eyes. It was as much emotion as Yuffie had seen Titus show so far. Slowly, completely oblivious to everyone's eyes on him, Vincent lowered himself into a crouch so that he was at eye level with the Running Man. Titus drew his legs close to his body, something that looked suspiciously like fear passing over his eyes for a single fleeting movement.  
  
"Vincent?" Cloud asked quietly. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Reno was right," Vincent deadpanned, voice flat and cold. "No one but an individual who is highly trained in the darker forms of information retrieval can understand just how far desperation can push a person."  
  
Cloud's eyes narrowed slightly. "And you understand?"  
  
"I was a Turk, Cloud. A monster wearing human skin. Though I have to admit that personal motives are far more nerve-wrecking than direct orders from the President."  
  
Yuffie saw Cloud's eyes dart between Vincent and Titus, who were engaged in a deep staring contest that left everyone else – including Yuffie – feeling estranged and severed, as if they were merely looking at the two men from some intangible distance.  
  
"What do you propose we do, Vincent?" Cloud asked warily, as if afraid of Vincent's reply.  
  
Without disengaging his crimson stare from Titus' emerald one, Vincent answered, "Violence will not work on him, I know that much." His eyes narrowed, two small slivers of bloody redness in his pale face. "Am I right, Mr. Titus?"  
  
Silence, then came Titus' raspy voice, "Correct."  
  
Yuffie's eyes widened. //He's talking!//  
  
"And let me guess," Vincent continued calmly. "Mind games don't work with you either."  
  
"They do not."  
  
"Why do you speak to me and not to Cloud or Yuffie?"  
  
A sly, secretive smile curled one corner of Titus' mouth. "I speak when I wish, to whom I wish. It is an unalienable human right, is it not?"  
  
"You are no human," Vincent stated bluntly.  
  
Titus' eyes flashed with some foreign emotion, then resettled into a strange, angry glitter, like a bird ruffling its feathers. "And neither are you, Vincent Valentine," he said callously.  
  
Yuffie saw Vincent's shoulders stiffen. "Master of mind games," he uttered. "No wonder they don't work on you; you know them all."  
  
Titus stared at Vincent. "Out of everyone in this room, you and her are the only ones who meet my eyes without flinching."  
  
It took Yuffie a few seconds to realize that the "her" Titus spoke of was none other than herself.  
  
"They are only eyes," Vincent deadpanned.  
  
"True, but do they not remind you of someone? The one called Aeris?" Titus cocked his head to the side, longer locks of white-blond hair grazing the collar of his leather jacket. "Or what about Sephiroth? Did both of those people mean so little to you?"  
  
This time it was Vincent who refused to reply.  
  
Titus' eyelids suddenly closed so that only half of each eye was visible, the natural gleam in them becoming even more intense, if such a thing was possible. "Or maybe you don't think of either of them?" he murmured, more to himself than Vincent. Yuffie felt a power building in the room. "Maybe someone connected to one of them…the one called Aeris?…no…there was no one…Sephiroth?……yes…the mother…" Titus' eyes widened. "I see a woman…Lucre—"  
  
Vincent suddenly lunged forward, claw outstretched. Titus reflexively jerked backwards, trying to bring his knees up to shield his face, but no matter how quick he was, Vincent was a step quicker. Not even flinching as Titus' updrawn knees dug into his stomach, he grabbed the man by the neck, razor sharp tips of his claw pressed against the pale skin, on the verge of puncturing it. Titus went deathly still, like a deer caught in a pair of headlights.  
  
"Vincent, what are you doing?" Tifa gasped.  
  
"He's a mind reader," Vincent spat, utterly the final two words as if they were something foul and abominable that he couldn't stand having in his mouth. Yuffie had never seen him so angry.  
  
Titus had the audacity to smile. "Only if your defenses are so weak that I can worm my way inside your head. Your fault, not mine."  
  
Something dangerous flickered in Vincent's eyes, and Yuffie saw his claw tighten almost imperceptibly around Titus' pale throat.  
  
//Oh crap…oh crap…//  
  
"Vincent, step away from him, please," Cloud requested quietly.  
  
But Vincent still remained, staring into Titus' emerald eyes with cold rage frozen on his face. With his dark hair falling into his crimson eyes, the usually composed man closely resembled a wild beast that had been unwisely released from its cage. Yuffie wasn't even sure he had heard Cloud until his grip on Titus' neck began to loosen, metallic finger by metallic finger. Slowly, he stood and stepped back from the Running Man, who watched his every movement with undisguised wariness.  
  
"Geez, Titus. You're just pushing everyone's buttons today," Yuffie sighed as Vincent moved to stand a good, safe distance away from the Running Man. Though to whom the "safe" referred, Yuffie was no longer clear on.  
  
However, one thing she was clear on was that when you began wondering if you should start protecting your enemies from your friends during a harmless "interrogation," it was time to beat a hasty retreat before someone's hands got dirty. Yuffie was just about to voice her oh-so- agreeable suggestion when she saw something metallic and shiny snake past Cloud and press itself up against Titus' throat.  
  
"Cid!" Elena exclaimed sharply.  
  
//I knew this was gonna happen!// Yuffie though wildly as she realized that pretty shimmering thing hovering near Titus' exposed neck was none other than the spearhead of the Venus Gospel. //The shit's about to hit the fan…//  
  
Amazingly enough, Titus' eyes still bore that infinite sense of cool detachment even with the business end of one of the most dangerous weapons on the Planet practically rammed up his nose. Clear emerald orbs flicked in Cid's direction, sizing up the pilot.  
  
Cid gripped the shaft of the Venus Gospel with unnaturally steady hands, keeping the wickedly sharp edge pressed firmly against Titus' throat, tottering on the verge of breaking the skin. His tanned, weathered face was blank and emotionless, but the glint in his dark blue eyes sent a chill down Yuffie's spine.  
  
//Cid…what HAPPENED to you?//  
  
"Those brown hissing things," the pilot growled, all his attention focused on Titus, as if the others were merely insignificant phantoms from another place and time. "What the hell were they?"  
  
Titus lifted an eyebrow. "They were torturers," he said levelly.  
  
"Torturers my ass!" Cid hissed, but everyone heard the uncharacteristic tremble in his rough voice. "They were…something else." His gloved hands tightened around the spear. "Tell me what the hell they were! Was what they said true?!"  
  
Yuffie frowned. //What they said…?//  
  
Realization washed over Titus' face in a wicked tidal wave, and he grinned slyly up at Cid, emerald eyes suddenly flashing brightly. "Tell me, Cid Highwind. What is your greatest fear?" he whispered intimately, mockingly.  
  
Those words severed the thin string of sanity that had kept Cid from falling off the deep end. A guttural cry ripped from the pilot's throat, and suddenly the spearhead sharply danced away from the pale column of Titus' throat…only to come arching back down in a blinding jab, shiny metal hungering for blood to stain its glimmering surface.  
  
Out of the corner of her eyes, a stunned Yuffie could see both Red and Vincent moving in a blinding blur of motion, on a beeline for Cid and the lethal spear. Cloud beat them to the punch. Lunging forward, the swordsman hit the shaft of the spear with a forceful backhand slap, making the near- fatal jab go wild. The glittering point of the spear ended up lodged in a brick less than one inch away from Titus' neck. The clang of metal on the wall's rough surface seemed to echo perpetually in the farthest corners of the cellar, the sound bouncing back and forth in an act of cruel mockery.  
  
Silence hung heavily in the cellar except for Cid and Cloud's shallow breathing. Yuffie was barely aware of Vincent hovering behind her or the tense, poised form of Red XIII directly to her right. Her mind was still trying to grasp the fact that Cid had nearly killed Titus. If Cloud hadn't been within grabbing distance…there went Reeve's location, there went all the answers to Yuffie's endless stream of secret questions, there went everything…what was Cid thinking? What had the Hissers done to make him this way?  
  
"Oh, Cid," Tifa murmured, and Yuffie heard something she never thought she'd hear in the other woman's voice. Hidden underneath the sympathy, underneath the worry, was the faint glimmer of plaintive horror.  
  
//Things are getting ugly// Yuffie thought despairingly. //We're falling apart. I don't even know who the freakin' bad guys are anymore!//  
  
"Out," Cloud suddenly ordered in a low, cold voice, gripping the shaft of the Venus Gospel so tightly the leather of his well-worn clothes creaked and creased around the junctures of his knuckles. Behind him, Cid still clung numbly to the spear, face slack and eyes wide. His pupils were tiny pinpoints in a sea of endless blue. He looked blind.  
  
"GET OUT NOW!!!!!" Cloud roared, infuriated when everyone just stood rooted in their places. "Everyone, get out of here! Rude! Elena! Out! Barret and Cait! Go on! Red! Let's go!" Cloud wretched the spear out of Cid's limp grasp and placed one firm hand on the pilot's broad shoulder, pushing him ahead as they made their way toward the cellar stairs with the others. Yuffie thought she saw Cid make a half-hearted attempt to extricate himself from Cloud's grasp, but the swordsman's hand only reinforced its hold, squeezing Cid's shoulder tight enough to bruise.  
  
"Shit," Cid was saying as he ascended the stairs with Cloud at his back like an irate parole officer. "Shitshitshitshitshitshit."  
  
As soon as the Rude and Elena went past her, Fa-Li lifted her head and tried weakly to turn her upper body around. "Titus?" she whispered. "Are you alright? Titus? Titus?"  
  
Yuffie felt a gloved hand land on her shoulder. Startled, she looked up to find Vincent's crimson eyes peering down at her, strands of jet-black hair brushing the curves of his pale cheekbones. She realized that she had been staring dumbly after the others with her mouth hanging open.  
  
"Let's go," Vincent said calmly, fingers tightening briefly. She could feel the warmth of his skin even through the thick fabric of the sweater, through the resilient leather of his glove. Fancy that.  
  
She nodded, pushing her hair back as the motion flung it into her face. "Okay," she muttered.  
  
Vincent started moving away, and Yuffie was just about to follow him when she heard Titus' voice behind her. "Yuffie."  
  
Whirling so fast his hair whipped in a wild arc, Vincent fixed the Running Man with a dark, intense stare. Yuffie turned and pinned Titus with a glare of her own.  
  
"What is it now?" she grumped. "Haven't you caused enough trouble for one day?"  
  
Titus didn't reply, only extended his right leg towards her, sole of his combat boot scraping across the cold concrete with series of grinding noises that made Yuffie want to grit her teeth. He stared up at her pointedly, green eyes wide and striking in the darkness, glittering up at her from behind strands of soft-looking white-blond hair. In the back of her mind, Yuffie wondered if it hurt to be so beautiful.  
  
"What's wrong?" she asked, bewildered as to what POSSIBLE significance Titus' stinky old shoe could have. "If your shoelace is untied, I sure as hell am not tying it for you! You can just trip next time you get up…if you ever do manage to get up, that is."  
  
Vincent took a step forward, placing the heel of his boot over Titus' toes.  
  
"Vinnie, that's mean!" Yuffie exclaimed half-heartedly. If anyone should be able to stomp on Titus' feet, it should be her…  
  
"Roll up his pant leg," Vincent ordered flatly.  
  
Yuffie stared at him, then at Titus, thinking they had both lost their marbles. Then she shrugged. "Fine, whatever." She started to step forward and kneel down, but Vincent stopped her.  
  
"Go around to my left side," he said. "You don't want him to kick you with his other leg."  
  
"Right, right," Yuffie grumbled, marching around to Vincent's left side and crouching next to Titus' leg. Flushing slightly and thanking the great Da Chao that Titus was currently playing the staring game with Vincent instead of eyeballing her, Yuffie took hold of the bottom of his jean leg and carefully rolled it upwards, exposing more of his combat boot.  
  
//Geez, how high do these things go?// she thought, trying not to think of how weird she must look, groping Titus' leg.  
  
Her fingers brushed something cold and metallic. Frowning, she jerked the denim material upwards.  
  
"My materia!!!" she exclaimed happily, as her Crystal Bangle was revealed in its glorious entirety. Titus had the damn thing strapped to his upper calf!  
  
"Lightening! Knights of the Round! Whoo-hoo!" Yuffie exalted, unable to help herself. "Cloud won't kick my ass after all!" She looked up to find Titus gazing at her, something like a smile tugging at the corners of his thin mouth. She grinned at him. ""Safe place' my ass! [1] You were carrying it the entire time, you crummy ol' bastard you!"  
  
Titus smiled at her. His expression looked less severe when he smiled.  
  
"Grab your armor and let's go, Yuffie," Vincent spoke up.  
  
"Sure thing," she quipped, unclasping the bangle from Titus' calf and letting his pant leg fall back into its rightful place. She smoothed the material down until it was pretty much wrinkle-free, then hoisted herself to her feet using Titus' knee as leverage. Vincent removed the heel of his boot from Titus' toes and proceeded towards the stairs, trusting Yuffie to follow.  
  
With one last glance back at Titus, the young ninja trailed behind her tall companion. When Vincent leaned over Fa-Li to turn off the single light bulb, the Wutainese woman shivered and leaned away, as if he would infect her with some alien disease should he come too close. Yuffie patted the woman on the head reassuringly as she passed her, but averted her face before Fa-Li's dark, haunted eyes could make contact with hers. No need to be on even friendlier terms with their alleged prisoners than she already was.  
  
At the top of the stairs, Yuffie turned and stared back down into the darkness, hands clutching her Crystal Bangle to her chest. Her weak, human eyes could see nothing in the inky black. Nothing but the luminescence of Titus' green eyes glittering up at her from the darkest corner of the cellar.  
  
"Thank you," she whispered to him, grip tightening on the piece of armor in her hands.  
  
Titus' eyes bobbed once. A nod.  
  
Yuffie nodded back and turned away, shutting the door behind her and once again leaving the darkness to devour the cellar whole.  
  
~owari Ch. 32  
  
[1] Remember waaaaay back in Ch. 22 when Yuffie asked where her materia was, and Titus replied, "In a safe place"? Nope? Didn't think so…  
  
Author's Note: I know. Long chapter. Long teeeeedious chapter. Long and tedious to read. Long and tedious to write. I can sympathize with you, honestly. O_O Writing this chapter made me realize that battles aren't so bad by comparison. I hate interrogation scenes. Thanks to anyone who read this all the way through! And a special thanks to all those who sent me e- mails encouraging me to hurry up! ^_^ Hopefully, the next chapter will be out sooner than this one!  
  
Next Chapter:  
  
A Moment to Deliberate  
  
Cid battles himself. Montana stops in for tea and crumpets. Cloud and Reno have a heart to heart. Rude and Kyra have a heart to heart. Yuffie and Vincent have a heart to heart. Barret has a heart to heart with Vincent's coffee cup. Titus ponders how to scratch his nose with his hands tied behind his back.  
  
In other words, boocoos of the character development. Oh, and I was just kidding about half of the stuff in that summary. O_O Of course, you have to guess about what I was REALLY serious about! ^_^ ~Catalina 


	35. A Moment to Deliberate

Sink to the Bottom With You  
  
Chapter 33  
  
A Moment to Deliberate  
  
"It's called 'getting comfortable.'" Reno Mitsuru  
  
Crawling in my skin  
  
These wounds they will not heal  
  
Fear is how I fall  
  
Confusing what is real  
  
There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface  
  
Consuming  
  
Confusing  
  
This lack of self-control I fear is never ending  
  
Controlling  
  
I can't seem  
  
To find myself again  
  
My walls are closing in  
  
"Crawling"  
  
Linkin Park  
  
"It's hot," Cid complained to no one in particular. Barret and Vincent were crashed out on the floor of the upstairs living room, seemingly dead the world. Cid thought it was awful weird to have a living room upstairs instead of downstairs, but he figured if you ran a huge fuck-off restaurant, you'd want the living room to be upstairs where no one would mess with it. Made sense in the end. Most things did, when you thought about them long enough.  
  
Taking another languid drag of his cigarette, Cid expelled the smoke in the general direction of the ceiling, though he knew the small particles of whatever cigarette smoke was made of would never rise high enough to touch the wooden beams. The living room was dark, and the burning end of Cid's cigarette was the only source of the light save for the sporadic flashes of lightening that deigned to illuminate the inky room.  
  
//Really should get some shut-eye// Cid berated himself, absently tapping some ash onto the hardwood floor.  
  
Sleep, however, seemed virtually impossible given the magnitude of Barret's earthquake-caliber snores. Though Cid never claimed to be a quiet sleeper himself, he had to admit that the big man's snores were annoyingly impressive. He had no earthly idea how Vincent had managed to get to sleep when he was lying barely five feet away from the source of the snoring. Guy probably had an on/off switch or something. Cid sure wished he had one.  
  
Grumbling intelligible phrases to the hot darkness, he squirmed on the couch, trying to find a position in which his ass didn't end up sinking in between the cushions. Cid would have much rather crashed on the floor than the couch. It seemed that whenever he slept on a couch, he could never escape the lingering remnants of his own body heat on the material. It was annoying, to the say the least. Especially when the room had morphed into something resembling a sauna. The last thing he wanted was to be smothered by his own body heat.  
  
Cid wiped the sweat off his forehead, snuffing out his cigarette in an ashtray Kyra had graciously provided him with. The smoke was giving him a headache, something that had never happened before. Cid never thought he'd see the day when smoke from his own cigarettes would cause him discomfort; the end of the world truly was near.  
  
Thunder crashed outside like the boom of a Wutainese gong, and Cid suddenly had a silly image of the Thunder God Ramuh knocking on the window with his mighty thunder staff, asking to be let in because he was tired of being out in the damn rain. Crazy. Cid had the Ramuh summon materia sheathed in the Venus Gospel; the once-mighty Thunder God wasn't going anywhere.  
  
Maybe it was a mixture of the rain pattering against the window and Barret's constant snoring, but within a few minutes, the ceiling began to dance and blur before Cid's hazy blue eyes. The shadows in the room grew thicker, more peaceful, like fluffy nighttime clouds. The Sandman was a- comin'. Cid was both scared and relieved.  
  
//Please just let me sleep this one damn time// he prayed to whatever deity would listen. His eyes started to drift shut. //I'm so damn tired…//  
  
Then the hissing began, blaring through Cid's head with the urgency of a siren in the night. Blood splattered his vision. A pair of glasses fell to the ground and shattered, glass flying everywhere until warm crimson soaked every shard.  
  
~So much blood…has to be dead…~  
  
"Fuck!" Cid cursed, bolting upright so quickly that the room spun wildly around him. Gritting his teeth with rage and fear, he snatched the nearest object – a pillow – and flung it at the wall with a vengeance. The soft object struck the wall with a soft poofing sound before plummeting meekly to land in a nearby chair.  
  
Cid covered his face with his hands, palms sliding roughly over days of unshaved stubble. His breathing was slightly ragged, and he wished he could plunge his fingers into his brain to wipe away those horrible images that arrived to haunt him every time he came close to sleeping. And that incessant hissing…  
  
He was going to go insane.  
  
Shakily, he swung his weary legs off the couch, wanting to feel the solidity of the carpet underneath the soles of his feet. The well-trodden fibers felt vaguely unsubstantial, much like the undulation of the waves, which appeared solid but would swallow you up in an instant. Cid would have much rather preferred the cold tangibility of wood or concrete beneath his feet, but the carpet would have to do for now.  
  
He needed a cigarette to soothe his frazzled nerves, but the effort to grab the pack of smokes from the lampstand and fumble for his lighter simply wasn't present in his weary, trembling limbs. On the floor in front of him, Barret and Vincent slept on, blissfully oblivious to his emotional turmoil. He was thankful he hadn't awakened them with his vehement cry of frustration.  
  
The roaring silence closed in around him like the embrace of ghosts in the darkness, trying to leech from his ears the endless hissing that haunted his every waking moment, that mocked him as surely as the rumbling thunder outside the window ridiculed him with its mighty laughter. Rain beat relentlessly on the glass, and a sudden flash of lightening threw his hunched-over shadow against the far wall, a clone constructed purely of darkness. Then the lightening was gone, taking Cid's shadow twin with it.  
  
The pilot sagged back onto the couch, curling into a half-fetal position that he was sure looked vulnerable as hell and wasn't sure if he really cared at the moment. No one was awake to see him but the darkness and shadows. Though two of his closest friends were no more than five feet away from him, he felt estranged from their world of idyllic unconscious. For him, inner peace was a foreign concept, sleep an unattainable dream.  
  
Dimly, Cid wondered how much more self-torture he could take before he snapped even worse than Reno had. He loathed to call it "self-torture," though, simply because he honestly wasn't into causing himself pain. But as far as he could tell, there was nothing other than his own unstable mind to blame for his plight.  
  
Of course, he could always blame those "Hissers" for what had befallen him. Even days after their unseen assault, Cid could still remember the lacerating pain in his head, the terrifying sensation of being…filled, like too much clutter shoved into his head at one time. But worse than the pressure pounding through his skull was the sense of defilement as the demons tried to draw out of him more than he could give, drinking up thoughts and memories like leeches. Sucking away his strength, his being, his sanity, and leaving behind their venomous poison, a seed planted to fester until it obliterated everything that made him who he was.  
  
Then came the terror. Then came the blood. The pair of glasses covered in dripping redness. Then came death.  
  
In the air before him, Cid suddenly glimpsed Titus' green eyes snapping open and that dark, raspy voice whispering. ~What do you fear, Cid Highwind?~  
  
Gasping more out of surprise than fear, Cid scrambled to the other end of the couch to escape the glare of the disembodied eyes, but they were no longer there. Only darkness dwelt in the place where Titus' eyes had hovered seconds earlier.  
  
"Shit," Cid cursed with feeling, wiping the cold sweat from his high forehead. His hands were trembling. "I'm f***ed up."  
  
The brief burst of adrenaline the visage had caused dissipated, leaving his limbs feeling weak and drained, as if some vampire had fed on him during those periods of dark reflection where he hovered between reality and dream, unable to discern which was the actual realm he belonged to. Cid laid his stubbled cheek against the back of the couch, material rough against his skin. What was happening to him? He was losing his marbles was what. Okay, so there was the problem. Now, what the hell was he going to do about it? He had thought Titus would know something about it, but now he would be lucky if Cloud even let him within twenty feet of the Running Man after the unexpected stunt Cid had pulled in the cellar.  
  
//I didn't even think about it. Those eyes just…begged for me to kill him……//  
  
~"Tell me, Cid Highwind. What is your greatest fear?"~  
  
Why, the death of a loved one, of course.  
  
Naturally.  
  
Gripping the arm of the couch for support, Cid rose unsteadily to his feet, staring down at the floor and trying to discern the locations of his two friends in the thick darkness. He had no trouble finding Barret. The big man was sprawled on his back, loud snores issuing from his half-open mouth. Cid carefully stepped over him. Vincent was a bit harder to locate, as the man seemed to wear shadows and darkness like second skin. In the end, the only thing that betrayed the gunslinger's location was white shirt he had borrowed from Cloud, and Cid easily avoided stomping all over the slender man.  
  
Sighing, Cid paused a moment to scratch the back of his head before proceeding down the hall towards Cloud's room.  
  
** ** ** **  
  
High Priest Ajax sat on the throne, a small dragon draped languidly around his narrow shoulders. Visages of open-mouthed, screaming faces carved out of obsidian adorned the gleaming surface of dark throne. Some prodigy of dark artistry had lovingly shaped every last detail of each terrified face, down to the crooked teeth on one face there or the tears of horror running down that face over there. Ajax himself didn't seem at all bothered by the ghastly piece of architecture; a smile played on his thin lips as he absently stroked the dark purple scales of the dragon. He wore nondescript black garments: loose pants and an open jacket that exposed his pale, thin chest. Either intentionally or on accident, the dragon raked its silver claws over the High Priest's bare chest. The smooth skin gave way under those razor-sharp nails, and blood ran in thin rivulets down to Ajax's stomach.  
  
"Doesn't that hurt?" Cloud asked him.  
  
Ajax's smile widened. "I like pain," he said simply, his slender, pale fingers caressing the neck of the dragon. The small, winged creature suddenly lifted its reptilian head to stare at Cloud, who was surprised to find its eyes shone a startling shade of aquamarine.  
  
Cloud blinked, his mind slowly throwing off the cloak of sleep that had brought him such a distasteful nightmare. Reno was staring down at him, his aquamarine eyes identical to those of Ajax's dragon.  
  
Cloud frowned at the Turk. "What are you doing here?" he tried to ask, but the only thing that emerged from his lips was an intelligible groan. "Urrrrrrrgh."  
  
Reno lifted an auburn eyebrow, flicking his fiery ponytail back over his shoulder. "Speak English, Strife. I didn't understand a single word you just said."  
  
Growling, Cloud rolled onto his left side, putting his back to the Turk with the hopes that if he ignored him, he would magically disappear. No such luck. Within a few seconds, he felt another body plop down onto the area he had just abandoned, and Cloud nearly rolled backwards into the depression Reno's body created in the mattress.  
  
"Why don't you go sleep in your own bed?" Cloud snapped grumpily, rearranging his limbs to compensate for Reno's added weight.  
  
"Elena kicks and snores," Reno grumbled back, jerking half of the pillow out from under Cloud's head. "And Rude's hogging the only comfortable chair in the room."  
  
"What time is it?" Cloud slurred, kicking Reno with the heel of his foot.  
  
Reno kicked him back. "Me and Yuffie just got off of guard duty. Your shift doesn't start for fifteen minutes."  
  
//Hurray. Fifteen more minutes of nightmares//  
  
And, he realized within the next second, fifteen minutes of Reno's constant squirming. Though he was fairly certain the Turk wasn't going to stab him in the back or shoot him in his sleep, Cloud was still uncomfortable about sharing a bed with *anyone*, especially an individual he had considered an enemy until a few days ago. Even now, the prospect of Reno truly being a friend was still up in the air…but Cloud was too tired to care. Sleep pressed heavily on his eyelids, and he readily gave into Somnus' touch, feeling the warm darkness of dreamless oblivion rising to embrace him.  
  
Reno's elbow dug into his side, and Cloud jerked awake, beside himself with annoyance.  
  
"Dammit, Reno!" he snarled, lifting himself up onto one elbow and looking over his shoulder to glare at the Turk. "Do you always wiggle this much in your sleep?"  
  
"It's called 'getting comfortable,'" Reno corrected, voice muffled by the pillow.  
  
Cloud sighed and sat up, wearily swinging his feet to the floor. "I really wish you would have chosen another place to get comfortable," he grouched, rubbing his face with his dry, chapped hands as he waited for the room to stop spinning.  
  
"Your lazy ass needed to get up anyways," Reno muttered, snatching the entire pillow and hugging it to himself like a teddy bear.  
  
Taking one last glance at the Turk, Cloud shook his head and rose to his feet, rubbing the small of his back to ease the knots of tension that seemed to be having a pow-wow at the base of his spine. He was only twenty- two years old, and here he was clutching at his achin' back like a man three times that age. Sighing again, he rotated his neck a couple of times, listening to the vertebrae crackle sleepily, just as displeased at being awakened from their slumber as Cloud was. He padded over to the window in only his socks, his customary pair of dark purple pants, and his untucked sleeveless shirt. Reaching up with one bare hand, he pulled back the curtain that he had lowered the previous night to blot out the flashes of fiery lightening that had insisted on disturbing his rest.  
  
Outside, the world hovered precariously between night and day. Dark gray clouds still covered the sky like a thick winter cloak, but the rain had died down to a gentle drizzle. Shadowy streets and buildings rose to greet Cloud's eyes, each of them just as morbid and gloomy as the sky overhead. That was Junon for you: a city woven entirely of shadows with a small sprinkling of yellow lamplights to illuminate the darkness. If he concentrated hard enough, Cloud imagined that he could hear the ocean roaring in the distance, laughing and gloating at his monstrous tides, swollen with rainwater and awaiting the impending downpours with dark anticipation.  
  
Cloud rubbed the back of his neck, still trying to shake off the lingering remnants of the Sandman's sleeping dust. The room seemed too quiet without the sounds of rain and thunder. Sad thing, but he had sort of gotten used to the world being in a perpetual state of thunderstorms.  
  
"I choked down there," Cloud said quietly, still staring out at the depressing scenery.  
  
"You sure did," Reno seconded. Apparently, he hadn't been even close to sleeping.  
  
"I just couldn't look him in the eye," Cloud continued. "One minute he reminded me of Aeris, the next of Sephiroth. I never thought I'd meet a person who would make me think of two entirely different people at the same time. It was just too disconcerting for me."  
  
He heard the rustling of bedclothes as Reno shifted position, rolling onto his back. "I'll level with you, Strife. At least you could stay down there. I had to leave."  
  
Cloud frowned. "I ordered you to leave. It was no decision of yours."  
  
Reno laughed bitterly. "You think I left just because you ordered me to?"  
  
"No. I guess not."  
  
"I left because I had to get the hell out of there before I lost it again. Just…being in the same room with her was making me crazy. If I hadn't left, I would have done something…bad."  
  
Cloud turned, placing his elbows on the windowsill behind him and staring at the man who had taken over his bed. Reno was gazing up at the ceiling, arms folded underneath his head, flame red ponytail trailing on the bed next to him, where it blended in rather aesthetically with the brightly colored comforter.  
  
"Can you tell me who that woman is?" Cloud asked unobtrusively. "If you want to, that is…"  
  
"I don't want to," Reno said immediately. One of his hands suddenly dipped into the pocket of his dark blue dress pants and, to Cloud's surprise, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a small lighter.  
  
"When did you start smoking again?" the blonde demanded.  
  
Reno waited until he had filled his lungs with a healthy dosage of cancerous tar before responding, "I've been smoking since I was ten years old."  
  
"Not lately, you haven't."  
  
Reno glared at him. "I'm falling apart here, Strife. I need them to calm me down, okay? Humor a basket case, will ya?"  
  
"Consider yourself humored," Cloud said with a shrug, pushing himself away from the window and proceeding over to the corner where he had thrown his boots the night before. Stooping down, he snatched them off the floor with one hand and crossed the room yet again to seat himself on the end of the bed, narrowly avoiding squashing Reno's feet.  
  
"Hey, Strife?" the Turk suddenly asked, bed springs creaking as he rose into a sitting position.  
  
Cloud was busy trying to wriggle his right foot into its matching boot. "What is it?"  
  
"I gotta favor to ask of you."  
  
"I dunno, Reno. It had better not be anything outrageous," Cloud warned.  
  
"It's not," Reno replied, voice suddenly gone quiet. "It's just…if something happens to me, or I do something dumb, promise me you'll take care of Rude and Elena."  
  
Cloud's hands froze at where they had been tucking the hem of his pants into his boot. He turned around and stared at the redheaded Turk, who only gazed back at him, face devoid of all emotion. "You can't be serious," Cloud said incredulously. "What are you thinking, Reno?"  
  
The man rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "Don't make this harder than it already is, Cloud. I'm serious here."  
  
"I know. That's what scares me."  
  
Reno took a hasty drag of his cigarette, an annoyed expression marring the horrible stillness that had pervaded his face seconds before. "Look, I'm trying to do the responsible thing here. If something happens to me, I want to make sure my friends are taken care of."  
  
Cloud suddenly turned back around and resumed putting his boots on. "Reno, you're many things, but stupid isn't one of them. I thought you had more control over yourself than this," he said flatly.  
  
"NORMALLY, I do," Reno declared hotly. "But the circumstances are different right now! I need someone who can be a leader for Rude and Elena if I can't do it. So I was THINKING that YOU, Mr. Do-Gooder, would be up to par, but if you're gonna be an asshole about it, then just forget it!"  
  
"You have my word."  
  
That stopped Reno's angry tirade. "What?"  
  
Cloud closed his blue eyes, massaging his temples with the tips of his fingers. "I promise you that no matter what happens, I'll take care of Rude and Elena for you."  
  
"…Thanks."  
  
"But one condition," Cloud added.  
  
Mistrust flickered in Reno's eyes for a second, but then he shrugged. "Fair enough. Name it."  
  
Cloud turned to stare at Reno, eyes somber. "Hang in there for as long as you can, Reno. Believe it not, your loss would be a great blow to all of us, not just Rude and Elena."  
  
Reno snorted derisively, as if he didn't quite believe Cloud's seemingly sincere words, but he muttered, "Yeah, yeah, I understand. I promise that I'll try and be tough."  
  
Cloud nodded. "Alright then. But one other thing?"  
  
Reno lifted an eyebrow, expelling smoke through his nose at the same time.  
  
"I think Vincent might want his gun back eventually."  
  
"Huh?" Reno echoed, bewildered. He glanced down and saw the lower half of his white dress shirt gaping open over his waistband, exposing the white- blue metal of the Silver Rifle. "Hey, this thing saved my ass back in Kalm. You think Valentine will let me borrow it for a while? I lost my nightstick in a pile of shit, and I'm sorry to say that my trusty 9mm isn't as portable as this pansy-ass gun here."  
  
Cloud shrugged. "I don't think Vincent will mind." Then he suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah. I think I may have a weapon for you." He rose to his feet still clad in only one boot and walked with an uneven gait over to the bureau of drawers, reaching behind the piece of furniture to pull out a slim, golden rod.  
  
"Tifa and Elena said that – what was her name again? – Fa-Li was using this as a weapon when they captured her," he explained, holding it out for Reno to take. "I'm not sure if you want to use it or not."  
  
//Since it belonged to HER…// he added silently.  
  
Transferring his cigarette to the other hand, Reno stared at the weapon in Cloud's hand, eyeing it as if the metal rod were a poisonous viper that wouldn't hesitate to bite him if he wasn't careful. Cloud watched a thousand indiscernible emotions float on the cold surface of those aquamarine eyes, there one moment and gone the next.  
  
"So she was using this?" Reno muttered, finally reaching out to take the nightstick gingerly from Cloud's grasp. "I'm the one that taught her how to use these things."  
  
"Really?" Cloud echoed, not really knowing what else to say.  
  
Reno's long, pale fingers danced over the bottom of the weapon, and Cloud jumped instinctively as two more segments seemed to appear out of nowhere, adding about a foot of perilous metal and escalating the intimidation factor the weapon brandished.  
  
The skin on the bridge of Reno's short nose crinkled in distaste as the glared at the nightstick. "This is more like a goddamn cattle prod," he uttered, twirling the thing nimbly between his fingers. Cloud couldn't help but be impressed; he probably would have dropped the thing and shocked the hell out of his foot by now.  
  
With another brush of his fingers, Reno retracted the nightstick's extra segments and looked up at Cloud. "I'll use it," he said firmly. "But I'm still keeping Valentine's gun just in case. If I managed to drag that heavy- ass Death Penalty out to the Highwind, he can let me borrow his bloody water gun."  
  
"As long as Vincent says it okay," Cloud said, plopping down on the edge of the bed and dragging his remaining boot closer to his new position. Reno lay back on the bed again, still examining the nightstick.  
  
Just as Cloud was about to slide his foot into the worn leather footwear, Cid appeared in the open doorway of the bedroom, looking more disheveled than normal.  
  
"Cid," Cloud stated, setting his boot back down on the floor. "What's wrong?"  
  
The pilot wandered into the room, scratching the back of his neck, a habitual gesture that silently declared that he was in a state of anxiety. "Gotta talk to ya, kid," he said gruffly.  
  
Cloud nodded, wondering what he could do to put the pilot as ease. "Sure thing."  
  
Cid glared pointedly at Reno, dark blue eyes relaying a silent, forceful message.  
  
Unfortunately, his efforts were wasted on the redheaded Turk, who only stared back at him before relenting slightly and rolling onto his side, back to Cid and Cloud. "Just pretend I'm not here," he muttered, grabbing the pillow and cuddling it again.  
  
Cid looked like he wanted to argue a bit more, but he sighed and instead turned his attention back to Cloud. "Kid, I'm gonna go ahead and tell ya this straight up, right to the point."  
  
All Cloud could do was nod.  
  
Cid drew in a deep breath, and on the wings of his exhalation said, "I'm going back to Rocket Town."  
  
Cloud's eyes widened. "What?"  
  
Reno rolled over. "What?!"  
  
Cid didn't meet either of their surprised gazes, instead opting to trace an imaginary design on the carpet with the toe of his sock. "I can leave ya'll the Highwind if you want, but…I just gotta go back. I'm no good to everyone staying here like I am."  
  
"Is that the only reason you're going?" Cloud asked quietly, raising one of his hands to stop Reno from making an angry exclamation.  
  
Meeting Cloud's eyes for only a brief second before rubbing his face with his hands, Cid mumbled against the palms of his hands, "I wanna see my wife again."  
  
Cloud folded his bare arms across his chest and raised his eyes to the ceiling, as if his Mako-enhanced vision could see beyond the structure of wood and brick and pierce the heavens above. Behind him, he could feel Reno's trembling restraint as he tried not to let loose a string of heated words. Surprisingly, Cloud could understand the Turk's indignation. Reno and Cid were both in states of emotional trauma, and if Reno was going to stick around, the Turk sure as hell expected Cid to tough it out as well. But Cloud knew Cid and was well aware that whatever had happened to him had to be very severe - severe enough to cause the pilot's will of iron to shatter…  
  
Lowering his gaze, Cloud found Cid staring at him with those new haunted eyes that he had borne in varying degrees ever since they had emerged from the cellar. But underneath the surface coat of dark weariness, he saw trust gleaming steadily in the azure depths. Though the pilot had come claiming that he was going to leave, the unspoken bond between the two friends dictated that the final decision rested in the leader's hands. If Cloud said, "No, Cid, you're staying here because we need you," then Cid would remain, and if Cloud said, "Yes, Cid, you can go ahead and leave," then Cid would go. Simple, but those were merely the two extremities. Dozens of compromises painted in varying shades of gray dwelt in between the two absolutes.  
  
Cloud nodded. "Fine, you can go, but we're coming with you."  
  
"You are?" Cid echoed in surprise.  
  
"We are?!" Reno exclaimed.  
  
The swordsman wished there were some way he could glue the Turk's mouth shut for a few precious seconds. "Cid, it's not like we have any pressing matters here in Junon. Unless we result to more drastic measures, Titus won't talk until he feels like it. But I'm convinced he or Fa-Li will eventually come clean."  
  
Cid stared deeply at Cloud, as if trying to see into his leader's head. "You're really gonna pack up and move everyone to Rocket Town just because I'm goin' crazy and need to run home?"  
  
Cloud nodded seriously. "Unless you don't want us to go with you. We will, after all, be taking our prisoners with us. I can understand if you don't want Shera or Rocket Town in danger."  
  
Shaking his head, Cid replied, "Don't worry about that. Here Kyra and Junon are in danger. No matter where we drag those two, danger will always be somethin' we gotta worry about." He sighed, broad shoulders sagging with unadulterated relief. "Thanks, kid, thanks so much for all this."  
  
Cloud acknowledged his friend's heartfelt gratitude with a smile, knowing that the pilot wasn't one for dramatic displays of emotion. "It's no problem, Cid. I'd hate to lose you this late in the race. We should be ready to leave in a few hours."  
  
"Right," Cid said with a firm nod, turning to leave. He stopped in the doorway, one hand resting on the frame. "Thanks again, Cloud. Just…thanks."  
  
The AVALANCHE leader just grinned and shook his head. "Go on, Cid."  
  
The pilot gave him a lopsided smile and waved once before exiting the room, calling over his shoulder as he went. "I'm goin' for a walk, then I'll pack my shit up."  
  
"Will do," Cloud called back.  
  
//That means I should get my crap together, too. Not that I have too much of it, though. And how the hell are we going to escort Titus and Fa-Li down to the landing strip without them escaping? I'll probably keep Vincent and Red close to Titus. Barret and Tifa can probably take care of--//  
  
"Strife!" Reno suddenly exclaimed.  
  
Cloud blinked, coming out of his pensive mode. He had almost forgotten the Turk was still lounging on his bed like he owned the place. "What is it?"  
  
Reno puffed angrily on his cigarette and growled, "You mean I gotta pack ALL my shit up and be ready to go in a few hours?"  
  
Cloud rolled his eyes. "It's not like you have so much shit to pack up in the first place, Reno."  
  
The Turk blew a cloud of resentful smoke in his companion's direction. "Hey, I still gotta wait in line to take a freakin' shower. And then it's my sacred mission to make sure Elena gets all her crap together. Do you have any IDEA how LONG she can take to put her goddamn make-up on? I swear that woman would forget her head if it wasn't attached to her shoulders. And then—"  
  
Forget glue. Staples were sounding good right about now.  
  
** ** ** **  
  
"Careful," Kyra warned. "It's hot."  
  
"I know, I know," Yuffie replied, blowing on the liquid to cool it. Her exhalation was a bit too forceful, however, and some droplets of coffee splattered across the counter. "Oops."  
  
"'Oops' is right," Kyra said with a tolerant smile, taking out a towel and wiping the bar counter. "Don't worry, hon, I've seen much bigger spills."  
  
"Really? Like what?" Yuffie asked, grazing her lips over the surface of the coffee to test how hot it was. "A bunch of people spilling their coffees at once?"  
  
"Small beans, that," Kyra replied, pushing some of her auburn hair back from her eyes. "Some guys squabbed in here a couple of years back. One pulled a gun on the other one. I was mopping and scrubbing bloodstains for two hours after that."  
  
Yuffie's gray eyes widened. "Oh my god! Did anyone die?"  
  
"Unfortunately, no."  
  
"Reno gets into a lot of bar fights," Yuffie added, dipping her finger into her coffee to ascertain its temperature. Her other method wasn't working very well.  
  
Kyra stared at her. "Whose blood do you think I was mopping up?"  
  
Realization dawned on Yuffie. "RENO got into a fight in here?"  
  
"Reno gets into fights everywhere. Seems like every time he comes here, something gets broken or he leaves some mess behind for me to clean up. Now I've forbade him to set one foot into my restaurant unless Rude's with him."  
  
Yuffie grinned. "Sucks to be Reno." She sipped her coffee. Not too hot. First instead of third degree burns. What an improvement.  
  
Shifting on the bar stool, Yuffie glanced around the empty restaurant while tasting her coffee gingerly. She and Kyra were alone in the hush of the early dawn. Normally, Yuffie found silence oppressive and uncomfortable, but here with friends to talk with and warm coffee trickling down her throat, the absence of "noise pollution" seemed rather…cozy. The perfect way to spend a rainy day, as far as she was concerned. Maybe if she tried real hard, she could ignore the fact that Titus and Fa-Li were still down in the cellar or "dungeon," as Yuffie had come to call it. She wondered if the two of them were hungry, but quickly banished the thought. She knew it was her companions' general opinion that she was way too attached to Titus and Fa-Li as it was; what would they say if Yuffie insisted on catering to their prisoners' needs?  
  
"No offense, but is the restaurant always this empty?" Yuffie asked the young woman on the other side of the bar.  
  
Kyra sighed and leaned her elbows on the counter, resting her chin on her hands. "No. I usually have regulars who come in every day, but with all this rain, no one even wants to venture outside. Business has been so slow that I even told the waiters and waitresses not to come in unless I call for them."  
  
"I see," Yuffie said, then abruptly fell silent as she heard the heavy fall of footsteps on the stairs.  
  
Cid Highwind emerged from the stairwell, looking bedraggled and tired. Dark bags hung under his midnight blue eyes, looking like smudges of black fingerpaint against the tanned skin. He had his blue flight jacket clutched absently in one hand, oblivious to the lonely sleeve that trailed on the carpeted floor as he trudged towards the bar.  
  
"Hey Cid!" Yuffie greeted as cheerfully as she could manage. She briefly tossed around the idea of cracking some joke about how he went bonkers, but one look at the haunted look in his eyes told her that Cid might not appreciate her humor.  
  
He wearily waved at her. "You gotta back door here?" he asked Kyra. "I wanna go for a walk or something, but not on the main roads."  
  
"Sure," Kyra nodded, pointing to a doorway on the other side of the bar, the one that led to the bathrooms. "Right over there. It's the door next to the men's room. But…do you want an umbrella, if you're going out in the rain?"  
  
Cid paused, as if the idea hadn't even occurred to him. "I guess so," he said with a shrug.  
  
Kyra exited the bar area to open a door designed to blend in with the texture of the wall. After a few moments of fumbling around, she turned around brandishing a pinkish-purple umbrella with little ruffle-like extensions embellishing the rim. Yuffie hid a smile in her coffee cup as Cid made a sour face.  
  
"Sorry I don't have anything more 'manly' for you," Kyra said with a grin, placing the girlish umbrella in Cid's outstretched hand.  
  
The pilot eyed it with obvious distaste, but said, "Oh, hell. If it'll keep me dry…thanks."  
  
"No problem," Kyra responded, heading back towards the bar area. Cid began to plod in the direction of the doorway Kyra had indicated earlier, boots scraping on the floor, purple umbrella looking far too lively against the melancholy aura that surrounded him.  
  
"Bye, Cid," Yuffie called quietly.  
  
Without turning around, he lifted a lead-heavy hand in a gesture of parting before his figure disappeared into the shadows, umbrella and all. Yuffie heaved a great sigh.  
  
"Is he going to be alright?" Kyra asked in a low voice, amber eyes lingering on the doorway Cid had gone through.  
  
"I hope so," Yuffie said softly. "He still won't tell us what happened to him. So far, only he and Titus seem to know anything about it."  
  
Bewilderment clouded Kyra's eyes for a second. "Titus? Oh. Your prisoner, right? You know, it's sad that a man that good-looking is one of the bad guys." She sighed gloomily, expression glum. "There aren't many gorgeous men left who aren't rotten to the core. And by Shiva, that Titus has to be one of the best-looking men I've ever seen."  
  
"I would have to agree with you," Yuffie seconded.  
  
//Speaking of good-looking men though…//  
  
"Can I have another cup of coffee?" she asked.  
  
Kyra glanced at Yuffie's half-full mug. "But you haven't even finished yours yet."  
  
Yuffie shook her head, tucking her hair behind her ears as a few strands flopped into her eyes. Now she was starting to remember why she had kept it short her entire adolescent life. "It's not for me. It's for Vinnie."  
  
A slow smile lit Kyra's face. "Vinnie?"  
  
Yuffie stared at the woman, unable to think of a reason for her sudden grin. "Yeah, you know, Vincent? The freaky red-eyed one that looks like a vampire? I was thinking that he might be awake already. Maybe he wants coffee."  
  
Kyra was still grinning as she pulled a mug out from beneath the counter. "Oh! THAT Vincent. Your special friend."  
  
Yuffie flushed and graced the amused woman with a dark glare. "VINNIE is so NOT my special friend! He's just…Vinnie."  
  
"I'm sure he is," Kyra said soothingly as she filled the mug with steaming coffee and set it before Yuffie. "I hope he just likes plain black coffee."  
  
"He'd better," Yuffie muttered as she climbed off the stool, balancing one mug in each hand. "Because I'm not giving him any of mine! Thanks, Kyra."  
  
"Of course," the auburn-haired woman said, still smiling mysteriously as Yuffie concentrated on ascending the stairs without accidentally dumping scalding hot liquid all over herself. She shook her head.  
  
//I don't care what Yuffie says. She's got in bad for that "Vinnie"//  
  
Now that her source of companionship (and amusement) had departed, she examined the spotless countertops with a sigh. It was slow days like this that she actually wished for dirty dishes or something to keep her occupied. She hated having nothing to do. All she had to look forward to was when the next "guard shift" would end, and the two sentries designated to keep watch over the cellar door would come into the main room for coffee and a something to eat. Until then…it was just Kyra and silence.  
  
She picked up her ever-present hand towel and started to fold and refold it absently. Maybe she should rearrange the tables just for the hell of it…  
  
The front door of the restaurant suddenly swung open, the unlikely harmony of rain and thunder outside suddenly roaring through the room like a night bird flying. Startled, Kyra looked up, eyes widening when she saw what the tempest had blown into her restaurant.  
  
If there were a competition for stunning male beauty, she figured it would be a toss-up between Titus of the dungeon and this new stranger. He had apparently been trekking around in the pouring rain for some time for his white garments were plastered wetly to his muscular body, clinging like a second skin. Raindrops glistened on his bare chest and belly, which were left exposed by the open, buttonless jacket that covered the rest of his torso. Dark brown spikes stuck up in wild disarray from his head, but Kyra got the impression that he had meant for them to be that way. Ordered chaos. Even the rain had failed to flatten most of the rebellious strands of hair to his skull. A pair of dark forest green eyes sparkled amiably at her, and she was surprised at her ability to discern their color even from across the room.  
  
"Hey there, Miss," he greeted, voice deep with softer undertones that gave it a very melodious sound. He could have been a damn good singer with that voice.  
  
Kyra realized that she had been staring and quickly tried to compensate for her rudeness. "I'm sorry! You startled me. Please come in!"  
  
A smile curled the man's lips. "Are you sure you want me to? I'm gonna get your floor all wet."  
  
Kyra waved her hand dismissively, averting her face at the same time. His beauty of his eyes was making her dizzy. "Don't worry about it. It's just water; it'll dry."  
  
"Thanks for your kindness," the man said, gracefully shutting door behind him with one foot. He wore no shoes. What the heck was he doing parading around the streets bare-footed?  
  
The man walked across the restaurant with unnatural grace, feet making no sound at all on the well-worn carpet. His eerie green eyes remained steadily riveted on the auburn-haired woman, a secretive smile still playing on his lips. A scar marred the left side of his face, but instead of detracting from his good looks, it only gave his face an extra boost of character that many men could use, in Kyra's opinion.  
  
"What can I get for you today?" she asked as he seated himself easily on the bar stool directly in front of her.  
  
The man casually leaned his elbows on the countertop, the cuffs of his sopping wet jacket peeling back to reveal wrists that looked strangely delicate next to his large, strong-looking hands. "Just coffee," he answered.  
  
That made Kyra grin. "Just coffee, stranger? Nothing harder?"  
  
His mysterious smile widened. "Only coffee. Alcohol is bad for you."  
  
"Amen to that," Kyra said, pouring more coffee into a clean mug. At this rate, she would need to make another pot fairly soon. "You take anything in your coffee?"  
  
"No, just plain black," the man answered.  
  
Kyra shrugged and set the mug before him. "There you go."  
  
The man gave her another one of those charming smiles. "Thanks, Miss."  
  
"No problem. I'm glad you came in today. Business has been really slow, to say the very least."  
  
"Rain doesn't bother me at all," the man said, sipping his drink while his dark green eyes roved around the restaurant, studying everything intently.  
  
//Apparently not// Kyra thought dryly, eyeing his soggy clothes. Small pools of water had already formed where his elbows pressed against the countertop, and she heard a suspicious dripping noise on the other side of the bar. Looked like she was going to have to bust out the mop again, but, hey, she HAD been looking for something to do. Besides, it wasn't like she could refuse the man entrance just because he was a little on the damp side.  
  
Studying the man before her, Kyra realized that he was younger than she had first assumed. No telltale signs of age marked his face, and the wild hair only strengthened the impression of youthful vitality. Some strands fell prey to gravity and hung against his cheekbones while in the back, the hair was long enough to curl slightly at the nape of his neck. The lashes around his green eyes were thick and lush; his skin had a healthy tan to it. All in all, a stunningly attractive young man. Yet…Kyra sensed there was something…off about him.  
  
"If you don't mind my asking," she spoke up. "Are you new to Junon?"  
  
The man stared at her with a strange sort of detached intensity, as if he could turn up the heat of his stare in a single instant if he so wished. "Why do you think I'm not from around here?" he queried. Kyra hated people who answered questions with more questions.  
  
"I don't know. I think I would have remembered a face like yours."  
  
His eyes narrowed, and she realized he must think she spoke of his scar rather than his attractive features. "I'm just passing through," he replied, taking another drink of his coffee.  
  
"Passing through? Where are you from, then?"  
  
Full lips curved into another mysterious smile. "From a land far, far away."  
  
Kyra frowned, not knowing quite what to make of this stranger. //I don't think it would be rude if I asked his name, though…//  
  
"By the way…" she started to say, but the man's eyes suddenly distracted her.  
  
They seemed a lot closer than they had been a second ago; deep and drowning green pools hovered inches from her face. Now that she was staring right into them, she noticed that the man had black flecks scattered throughout the forest green iris. That was odd. Kyra had seen black eyes flecked with green before, and green eyes flecked with darker green, but never deep green shot through with obsidian black. They were beautiful eyes, beautiful as tigers were beautiful – eyes she could just fall into…  
  
The man suddenly waved strong, callused fingers in front of her face. "Hey!"  
  
Kyra blinked, awakening from her stupor with a start. "Hm? I'm sorry…I must have zoned out."  
  
That smirk was back, lightly teasing her from over the rim of the coffee cup. "You were staring at me," he said bluntly.  
  
A blush darkened the woman's pale cheeks. "Was I? Sorry about that. I…had a question for you, but…I seem to have forgotten it…"  
  
//What was I going to ask him?//  
  
The man shrugged his broad shoulders. "If you forgot it so quickly, it must have not been that important."  
  
"No," Kyra said uncertainly. "I guess not…"  
  
"Nice place you have here," the man commented, looking around the restaurant again. "You the owner?"  
  
The change of subject was so abrupt that it took Kyra a few precious seconds to regain her mental footing. "Oh, yeah, I'm the owner. Who else would be crazy enough to come to work on a day like this?"  
  
"It looks a lot bigger on the outside." The stranger looked at her out of the corner of one eye. "I'll bet the cellars run deep in this place."  
  
Kyra frowned. "You're a bit odd, if you don't mind my saying so."  
  
To her surprise, the man laughed, a sound that was strangely playful. "I don't mind at all. I've been called a lot worse than 'odd' in my lifetime."  
  
An auburn eyebrow quirked slightly. "You don't say?"  
  
The mysterious stranger winked at her, sexy as hell. "I do say." Throwing back his head, he downed the rest of his coffee in one gulp, setting the mug on the countertop and sliding nimbly off the barstool. "Well, Miss, it's been fun, but I'd best be on my way."  
  
"You're going out into the rain again?"  
  
The man reached into the saturated pockets of his white pants and produced the appropriate amount of gil, tossing the coins onto the counter with soft jingling sounds. "A little rain never hurt anyone," he said, gracing her with one last smile before turning to walk away.  
  
Rude entered the restaurant area just in time to see a man in white walking across the room towards the entrance. The tall Turk paused in the threshold, body going completely still. The graceful movements of the stranger's limbs rang a familiar cord of danger in Rude's mind. His bare feet made not a sound on the carpet, and the mere motion of walking was so graceful it seemed he flowed from one step to the other. Even the swing of his broad shoulders underneath that soaking wet jacket appeared perfectly in sync with the rest of his body. A perfect order. Either that or bottled chaos just waiting to explode into violence.  
  
Leaving the doorway, Rude strode over to the bar area where Kyra was watching the stranger with semi-appreciative eyes. The man opened the door and vanished into the rain without so much as a glance behind him.  
  
Together, Rude and Kyra waited until the silence had settled into a more comfortable lull. "Gangster," they declared at the same time.  
  
"Though I've never seen a gangster half as graceful or gorgeous," Kyra added wistfully.  
  
Rude took a seat at the bar, leaning his elbows on the counter. "I'm fairly certain that grace comes from practicing some form of martial arts."  
  
"And his heartstoppingly beautiful appearance?" Kyra said with a grin.  
  
Rude shrugged, looking disinterested. "Good genetics, I'm guessing."  
  
"DAMN good genetics," Kyra seconded, laughing. "What can I get for you, Rude?"  
  
"Beer."  
  
A smile lit the woman's face. "That's my Rude alright. Good thing, too, because I was running low on coffee."  
  
Rude removed his sunglasses and rubbed his tired eyes as she set the dark green bottle in front of him. "That man didn't drink any booze?"  
  
Kyra shook her head. "No, just coffee."  
  
"Odd." Rude opened the bottle and took a swig, relishing the cold, bitter liquid as it coursed down his throat, the foul taste of it wonderfully familiar. For him, booze always tasted better in Junon. It wasn't because the brands were different or the bartenders any more skilled; the flavor of the alcohol simply seemed to suit his palate better in this desolate city where he had spent his miserable childhood. Quite an ironic thing, if he thought about it long enough. The memories of his hometown were bitter, but the alcohol was good. Praise Shiva for the small things.  
  
Rude lowered his bottle to find Kyra staring at him with a contemplative expression on her pretty face. He lifted an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"  
  
Kyra blinked, but the thoughtful gleam refused to abandon the golden depths of her eyes. "Nothing. It's just good to see you again, Rude. You should come down to Junon more often."  
  
Rude smiled at her. "I know, but..."  
  
"You don't want to," Kyra finished when his voice trailed off. "Why not?"  
  
"Bad memories," Rude said quietly, taking another drink in an attempt to extricate himself from the grip of her steady gaze.  
  
"We all have bad memories of Junon, Rude," Kyra said sternly. "You're not the only one, you know. Out of the old gang, you and I are probably the best off right now."  
  
Rude began to peel the label off his beer bottle, an old habit that he found exceedingly hard to break. Bartenders usually hated him for leaving messes on their countertops. "I found your armory," he said flatly.  
  
"Collection, not armory," Kyra corrected sharply. "I don't traffic weapons anymore."  
  
"What's the price on the Remington?" Rude asked, as if he hadn't heard her previous statement.  
  
Kyra lifted a suspicious eyebrow. "Oh? Since when does the infamous Rude of the Turks use a shotgun in battle?"  
  
"First time for everything."  
  
"But never for that. You're too dedicated to your little martial arts/boxing thing. Maybe you could take on that man with the good genetics."  
  
Rude frowned, remembering the man's unnatural grace, like danger in a bottle. "No, I would rather not, actually."  
  
Kyra shrugged, either not noting his preoccupation or simply declining to acknowledge it. "Either way, I think martial arts is a more honorable way to go than firearms."  
  
Rude pulled back the lapel of his suit jacket to expose his standard issue 9mm secured in his shoulder holster. "Honorable, yes, but safer, no."  
  
Kyra was still a bit standoffish. "That, of course, is a matter of opinion."  
  
Rude let his jacket fall back into place. "Trafficking firearms is a dirty business, Kyra."  
  
Anger flashed in the woman's eyes. "Hey, I don't need you babysitting me, Rude! This restaurant may have been built with 'dirty money,' but I run a respectable business now."  
  
Rude's bright green eyes met hers, full of sincere concern. "Then why all the firearms?"  
  
The woman sighed, unable to stay angry when faced with those eyes. "Sometimes...some of the old gang comes around, needing...'help.' Call it selfish, but I have no intention of going back to the slums and getting tangled up in all their messy drug deals. So I give them the only help I have left to offer, aside from my continuing friendship." Her voice was sad. "Some of our friends weren't as lucky as us, Rude."  
  
The tall Turk reached out and patted the back of her small hand. "I know. How is everyone doing? I saw Jamil the last time I came to Junon, but what about the others? Has anyone else managed to get out of the slums?"  
  
A bit of light returned to Kyra's face. "Cedric did."  
  
Rude looked up in surprise. "Cedric Takai?"  
  
Kyra smiled at his shock. "Sure did. You never would have thought, right? He was so quiet and everything. He's still paying off a few old debts, but he's gonna get out, I can tell. He works for the silversmith a couple of blocks over. Makes a sweet set of throwing knives."  
  
The normally stoic man made no effort to stop the smile that came to his face. "That's damn good to hear. About him getting out, I mean."  
  
Kyra nodded. "Damn straight it is. And you?"  
  
"Me?"  
  
"How's your new 'gang'?" Kyra asked, making quotation marks with her fingers. "Have you found new bar buddies up there in Midgar?"  
  
Rude shook his head. "Just Reno and sometimes Reeve. Elena will go with us to bars if we ask her, but she doesn't drink much."  
  
"She's a good woman," Kyra said quietly, watching as Rude studied his beer bottle, wiping droplets of condensation off the green glass before they could roll down and get the counter wet.  
  
"You know, that Elena really likes you, Rude," Kyra told him softly, knowing her tall friend had a tendency to balk and clam up when hit with too much emotionally shocking information at once. He was never one for discussing feelings.  
  
Rude continued to poke at the bottle, noting how the drops of liquid slowly dripping down of the sides of the bottle resembled the raindrops outside. "Really?" he muttered. "I never noticed."  
  
"…You did, too, Rude."  
  
** ** ** ** **  
  
China all the way to New York  
  
I can feel the distance getting close  
  
You're right next to me  
  
But I need an airplane  
  
I can feel the DISTANCE as you breathe  
  
Sometimes I think you want me to touch you  
  
How can I when you build a great WALL around you  
  
In your eyes I saw a future together  
  
You just look away in the distance  
  
"China"  
  
Tori Amos  
  
Vincent lay awake in the darkness, listening to the light sound of the rain drizzling against the window. Beside him, Barret snored in the blissful embrace of complete and total sleep. Without even opening his eyes, Vincent knew that Cid had long since abandoned his makeshift bed on the couch. He felt none of the teeming, crackling aura that he had come to associate with the emotionally disturbed Cid. Somewhere down the hall, he could hear Cloud and Reno's raised voices as they bickered about some trivial matter.  
  
All was well.  
  
Rolling onto his side, Vincent brought his knees up in a half-fetal position, pondering whether or not he should try and get a bit more rest. Albeit the floor wasn't the most optimal place of rest, but when compared to the soft cushiony embrace of a silk-lined coffin set amidst the silence of a catacomb, Vincent preferred the thin, scratchy carpet and the discordant symphony of Barret's thunderous snores. He sighed and adjusted the lumpy pillow that provided his head with only minimal comfort. Both he and Barret had forfeited more luxurious pillows, instead allowing Cid to use the best one out of the three cushions Kyra had offered them. Vincent figured if the pilot couldn't have his sanity, he might as well have a comfortable pillow.  
  
Quiet footsteps treading softly over the floorboards suddenly snapped Vincent out of his period of lazy reflection. His red eyes opened wide, piercing the blackness with flawless ease as his claw began to edge closer to where the Outsider was tucked underneath his pillow.  
  
His precautionary measures proved groundless, however, when Yuffie Kisaragi suddenly poked her head around the corner, squinting in the darkness as she tried to pinpoint the locations of the living room's occupants.  
  
Her eyes fell on Vincent, her pupils oversized orbs of darkness amidst seas of stormy gray. "Oh, you're awake, Vinnie," she stated, stepping around the corner and into the living room area. She had two mugs in her hands.  
  
Vincent propped himself up on one elbow, pushing his hair away from his face. "Is something wrong, Yuffie?"  
  
The young ninja shook her head and plopped gracefully down on the floor in front of him, folding her slender legs underneath her with the ease of long practice. "Nothing's wrong. I just thought, you know, you might want coffee or something since your shift is coming up." She laughed softly, gray eyes glittering with mirth even in the darkness. "Me and Reno were practically falling asleep on our feet during our shift. Some guards we made." She held out one of the mugs to him. "Here you go. I hope you like it plain and nasty."  
  
Vincent sat up, silently touched by her kindness but bewildered as to why she chose to direct such effort towards him. "That's fine. Thank you, Yuffie," he said politely, taking the mug from her fingers.  
  
"You're welcome," Yuffie said cheerily, speaking in a semi-low tone so as not to wake Barret with their conversation. Vincent leaned his back against the leg of a nearby chair, drawing his knees up to his chest in a position that would have looked more vulnerable if seen on another man. His pale skin, midnight black hair, and ruby red eyes dimmed any impression of vulnerability he might have exuded.  
  
"Cid went for a walk," Yuffie announced, probably just for conversation's sake.  
  
"I know," Vincent replied, holding his coffee mug close to his face just to feel the comforting warmth of the steam against his skin.  
  
"I hope he's going to be okay," Yuffie continued, sipping her coffee and watching him intently.  
  
Vincent said, "All we can hope for right now is that his sanity doesn't deteriorate to a point where it obliterates his personality."  
  
A sour expression came to Yuffie's face. "Geez, you're so morbid, Vinnie."  
  
Vincent only shrugged, broad shoulders straining against the cloth of his borrowed shirt. It was then that he realized his cape and other gothic-ish garments had been missing for days. He had hardly noticed the absence of the clothes he used to be so attached to.  
  
Yuffie shifted position, uncoiling her legs and sitting on her backside. The movement put her closer to Vincent, close enough that he could feel the gentle warmth emanating from her body. It made him want to move away and edge closer at the same time. Ambivalence. Vincent hated being ambivalent; it was a state of mind that would more than likely get him killed one day, but that was the dominant effect Yuffie seemed to have on his mentality. She made him hesitate, question things, doubt the dark convictions that he had abided by for years…  
  
Turning his head, he studied the girl seated barely two feet away from him. She was staring blankly into her coffee cup, eyes distant and pensive. Such a state had become rather common for Yuffie as of late, Vincent was unhappy to see. It was quite obvious something lurked in the depths of her mind, an irking thought that turned her mouth down at the corners and dimmed the light in her eyes.  
  
"What are you thinking, Yuffie?" Vincent asked shrewdly, surprising himself. He usually didn't make such inquiries, but it bothered him to see her expression so dark and closed-off.  
  
She looked up calmly, as if she had been aware of his attentiveness all along. "I really need to talk to Titus alone," she whispered, eyes large and strangely endearing. But what Vincent saw shifting underneath the stormy seas wasn't so appealing. Vincent, along with his four older sisters, had run from assassins when he was just a boy. He had been an agent of comfortable rank during his time with the Turks. And finally, he had served as a guinea pig for Hojo.  
  
Vincent Valentine knew fear when he saw it. He knew the taste of it, the smell of it, and that was the emotion prevalent in the depths of Yuffie's eyes. She was sincerely desperate to talk with the man formally known as the Running Man. But why?  
  
Vincent found the untouched contents of his coffee cup a more interesting study, thankful for the shadows that hid his deep frown. "Why are you telling me this, Yuffie? If you wish to speak with Titus, then you should discuss it with Cloud."  
  
Yuffie hesitated, then said, "Vincent, could you…ask Cloud for me? I mean, put in good word or something?"  
  
Questioning garnet eyes flicked in her direction, and Yuffie hastened to explain. "Cloud respects you a hell of a lot more than he does me. I know that if I tried to get him to let me talk to Titus by myself, he wouldn't listen to a word I said. But he'd listen to you, Vincent."  
  
"And why is that?"  
  
Yuffie watched his dark profile fixedly. "Because he likes you. Cloud has a lot of respect for you, Vincent. He values your opinion a lot more than he values mine…or anyone else's for that matter."  
  
"A pity in that," Vincent commented.  
  
Yuffie frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Cloud pegs me for the most sound of mind amongst us. That's utterly false, not to mention frightening."  
  
His self-deprecating words brought a scowl to Yuffie's face. "You're so frustrating, Vincent. After all this time, it's like you still can't accept that we're your friends."  
  
A hushed rustling of garments dispersed through the intimate darkness as Vincent shifted to face her, eyes red as fresh blood. "I don't see how that's possible. Anyone who finds comfort in my presence has to be lacking intelligence-wise."  
  
Yuffie dropped her gaze, but not before he saw the flash of hurt that flickered across her face. "Oh," she muttered. "I see."  
  
Uncomfortable silence filled the air in between them, as abysmal as the unseen rift that separated their two mentalities. Vincent watched the undulating motion of the coffee in his mug, its glittering surface illuminated as lightening flashed outside the window, followed by the distant call of yet more approaching thunder. He was sorry he had hurt Yuffie's feelings, but…he just didn't understand the girl.  
  
When he first had the pleasure of meeting her thieving acquaintance a year ago, Yuffie had appeared a rather simple girl, cheerful and mischievous. Yet, even then, Vincent had perceived the faint darkness of maturity shifting underneath her laughing eyes. But such was typical of adolescent girls on the verge of emerging into womanhood so he had paid no heed to the realm of infinite possibilities that danced within those eyes.  
  
But somehow within the past few days the gentle stirrings within those eyes had turned into tidal waves, drowning out the girl in Yuffie and allowing the hidden, shadow-wrapped woman within to emerge at choice moments. Despite her many adventures, there was much of life Yuffie had yet to experience, and Vincent suddenly felt horribly angry that Yuffie was being coerced to bloom amidst adversity, amidst darkness, amidst thunderstorms and lightening. It seemed a heinous crime to force upon a human being.  
  
A small hand suddenly reached out, gently covering the claw that gripped the coffee mug so tightly it most likely the kitchenware would have shattered in a few seconds. Her fingers were warm. Vincent's eyes widened, but he didn't dare turn to look at the young woman next to him.  
  
"We're your friends, Vincent," Yuffie said firmly. "We like you…I like you."  
  
Vincent's heart clenched painfully. "That is…"  
  
'Unfortunate,' he started to say, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. His frightening relief, his muted elation, was simply too strong to allow such words.  
  
Yuffie's fingers lightly gripped his wrist, fingertips grazing the sensitized metal like the touch of a phantom. Vincent heard her swallow. "Um…when I realized that you and the others were coming to save me, I was…really happy, Vincent. I was glad…that you were there."  
  
Vincent said nothing, watching her short, blunt fingernails tap the metal of his claw nervously. Her fingers looked so pale against the tarnished gold.  
  
She continued, "Sometimes – this may sound silly – but, I just want to…touch you, Vincent. Like…hug you or something…only I don't…because I know…that you don't like to be touched…"  
  
"You're right," Vincent said hollowly. "Being touched by others sometimes…displeases me."  
  
Her hand tightened around his metallic wrist as he felt her lean her forehead against his shoulder, hair tickling his arm even through the material of his shirt. Vincent didn't stiffen; he felt as if all the energy had been drained from his limbs in order to keep up with the echoing pounding of his immortal heart.  
  
"Do you like us, Vincent?" Yuffie suddenly asked. "Are you our friend as well?"  
  
The man felt his head nod. "Yes, I'm your friend."  
  
"And…you like us?"  
  
"Yes…I like you…all." As he said it, he realized it was true. He liked being with Yuffie, with AVALANCHE, and that was why he wanted to leave. He liked everyone far more than was healthy. Some of them more than others.  
  
Yuffie drew back abruptly, as if realizing the intimacy of their position. Good little girls didn't cuddle up to men twice their age in the embrace of darkness, where no one could monitor their actions. She did, however, place a small hand on Vincent's shoulder, her fingers unavoidably tangling with wayward locks of his dark hair.  
  
Though Vincent didn't look at her, he could hear the smile in her voice and knew that it was for him, and it was genuine. "No matter what you say, Vincent, I don't think you're a monster."  
  
Vincent looked at her shining eyes in surprise. The words were reminiscent of those she spoke at the hotel, when they had shared a bed for one night.  
  
Yuffie smiled at him, patting his shoulder and absently brushing some of his hair back from his face before rising to her feet. "Better drink your coffee before it gets cold," she warned him good-naturedly, waving once before striding out of the living room and disappearing into the lightening shadows of the hall.  
  
Dawn was near, or as much of dawn as the overcast skies would permit.  
  
Alone again, Vincent stared at the reflective surface of his still untouched coffee, trying with all his might to combat the maelstrom of emotions that raged within him. Yuffie was fortunate that optimism was a basic trait of her personality; she could always wrap that around herself like a cloak, a corner of her own soul in which she could rest from the darker, more taxing emotions that plagued her. Vincent wasn't so lucky. All he seemed to know was torment and more torment.  
  
Sighing internally, Vincent gazed out the window at the gray skies. The rain had slowed down to a lulling drizzle, but the silence now seemed thicker, more choking, especially since Barret had finally stopped snoring.  
  
"How long have you been awake?" Vincent asked.  
  
The muscular bulk lying on the floor shifted like a bear awakening from a fitful slumber. Barret sat up and leaned his broad back against the couch Cid had abandoned. "Long enough," the big man answered gruffly, brown eyes uncomfortably keen. "Jus' what do you think you're doin'?"  
  
Vincent tore his eyes away from the window and resumed studying his coffee cup. "I'm doing nothing. At least, nothing that I can control."  
  
Barret scratched his bearded face with his normal hand, still staring at Vincent. "You know she only seventeen, don't ya?"  
  
"I am well aware of that fact. Trust me, Barret, if I knew what was going on, I would tell you."  
  
"Oh?" Barret sounded suspicious. "Would you? I don't think ya would."  
  
Vincent shrugged. "Think what you wish."  
  
"You're confused," Barret stated, sounding surprised even at his own words. "Man, Vincent, you sure is messed up in the head."  
  
"I think I'll have to agree with you on that account."  
  
"Weeelll," Barret drawled, folding his arms across his chest. "Since you both seemed all mixed up, I guess I'll leave you and Yuffie to your own thangs, but you hurt the brat, and I'll cap your ass so fast you won't know what the hell hit ya."  
  
Vincent smiled slightly. "Of course." He and Barret didn't see eye to eye on many things, but he knew when the ex-leader of AVALANCHE made an idle, jesting threat. Barret would never dream of shooting Vincent. One, they were friends. Two, Vincent would shoot back.  
  
The two men sat in comfortable silence in the wee hours of the morning until the sound of a door opening down the hall disrupted the quietude. A pair of footsteps came padding down the hall, and a moment later, Cloud appeared, still clad in only one boot. The other was clutched in his now- gloved hand.  
  
Cloud blinked in surprise at finding two pairs of alert eyes staring up at him. "Good, you're both awake. Start getting your stuff together. We're—"  
  
"—MOVING OUT!!" Reno cried, rushing by just in time to steal Cloud's thunder before striding down the hall towards his room, laughing at his own wiliness as he went.  
  
~owari ch. 33  
  
Okay, an odd place to end a chapter, I know, but if I didn't stop myself, I would have just kept going…and going…and going. I really liked writing this chapter. Can you tell I like character development more than plot development? ^^ Now to tackle the next chapter, which is a battle ::sighs::  
  
Moira, so…how did I do? ^_~  
  
Next Chapter:  
  
Trial by Fire 


	36. Trial by Fire

**Sink to the Bottom With You  
Chapter 34:  
Trial by Fire  
**_"You can have the sword when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers." Cloud Strife_   


  


CEDRIC TAKAI IS PROPERTY OF NOVOK, WINNER OF THE 3333 COUNTER-FIC PRIZE! CONGRATULATIONS! ^_^  


  


A/N: I know it's been forever since I updated so I'll go ahead and give you a little recap of past events from recent chapters:   


AVALANCHE and Turks are currently hiding out in Junon with one of Rude's old friends, Kyra. They've managed to capture Titus and Fa-Li and imprison both of them down in the basement of Kyra's restaurant. Cloud and the others tried to extract information from Titus, but their efforts yielded no results. As far as their search for Reeve goes, they are now at a total standstill until Titus decides to talk. In the meantime, Cid has been mentally traumatized by his mind-rape by the Hissers. He decides that he's no use to the team in such an unbalanced state, and informs Cloud that he's headed back to Rocket Town. Cloud understands, and says that rest of the team will go with Cid. So everyone prepares to "move out," but they have no clue that out in Junon, the Master's bounty hunters, Jezebel and Montana, have their eyes set on killing Titus and Fa-Li. These two will stop at nothing to complete their mission and have no qualms about cutting down those that stand in their way...   


And another note: Most readers didn't realize that the man who visited Kyra's restaurant (the hottie with the bare feet and soaking wet clothes ^_^) was none other than Montana, the male bounty hunter who holds a personal grudge against Titus. Montana is also the one who burned down the Final Heaven bar in an attempt to kill the wily Reno.   


Well...I think that's pretty much all you need to know. Hope you enjoy this chapter, even though it is another oh-so-loathed battle scene. :P   


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


"You're leaving?" Kyra exclaimed, looking dismayed. "But how can you just come and go so soon?"   


Cloud shrugged his broad shoulders. "It's time for us to move on. But thank you for giving us shelter, Kyra. Us and our prisoners."   


Kyra waved her hand dismissively, as if such things were normal occurrences in her life. "Don't worry about it. I got to see my friend Rude again so it was all worth it."   


Cloud grinned slightly, readjusting his Crystal Bangle as it started to slide down his arm. "I'm glad you think so, but we'll probably end up being a danger to you if we remain here any longer."   


Sighing, the auburn-haired woman folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the side of the counter, staring at Cloud with her amber eyes. "I grew up in the Junon slums, Cloud. It's not like danger is anything new to me."   


Cloud was just opening his mouth to respond to her statement when Barret suddenly trudged down the stairs, dragging his pack behind him like a child with its prized blankie.   


"We ready to leave yet?" the big man asked, dropping his bag on the floor next to Cloud's. Both nylon packs looked limp and underfed; though Reno and Red had tried their best to save as many possessions as possible from the untimely fire that devoured the Final Heaven bar, there had naturally been limitations on how much one man and one quadruped could carry. As a result, everyone basically only had a few changes of clothes to get by on until they managed to go shopping (fat chance).   


"Almost," Cloud responded to Barret's question, hopping easily onto a barstool and glancing around the room.   


Aside from Barret, Kyra, and himself, the only other comrades present in the room were Red, Cait, Vincent and Yuffie. Their punctuality was due to the fact that not a single one of them had anything to pack. Kyra had lent Yuffie a few garments to put in a small knapsack, which was currently serving as an impromptu pillow for the young ninja as she sagged on the table in apparent exhaustion even though Cloud had seen her up and chirping not even an hour ago. Vincent sat in the chair beside her, looking calm and unflappable, as per usual. Red lounged on floor near Vincent's feet, seemingly sleep except for the gentle swishing of his tail. Cait had decided it was his sacred mission to keep Yuffie awake by thwapping her on the head with his megaphone whenever her breathing started to get deep and even. Twice Yuffie's patented Fist O'Rage had punched him off his moogle, and still he kept coming back for more.   


"The hell is everyone?" Barret demanded grumpily as he sat down heavily in the chair across from Vincent. The piece of furniture squealed in protest.   


Cloud shrugged. "If you tell over ten exhausted people that they have to have their asses ready in a couple of hours or they get left behind to walk all the way to Rocket Town, there's usually more fighting than there is packing."   


"There's a line for the shower," Yuffie mumbled, eyes still closed. "I had to fight Reno for first dibs. I won, too!"   


"How did you manage that?" Kyra asked with a smile.   


A devious grin split Yuffie's face, even more disconcerting since her eyes were closed. "I gave him a shot in the pills."   


Barret winced, shifting in his seat. Cloud resisted the urge to cross his legs. Everyone else was unfazed.   


"What a dishonorable method of combat," Red muttered.   


"Oh, stifle it, Red," Yuffie snapped.   


Everyone managed to maintain amusing small talk as they waited for the rest of the crew to plod down the stairs one by weary one. First Cid, an ever-present cigarette between his lips. Then came Tifa, followed by Rude, Elena, and at long last, Reno, his hair still soaking wet from his hasty shower.   


"I can't believe you guys are leaving," Kyra moaned, putting her hands on her slender hips. "It's going to be so damn DULL here without you."   


Tifa smiled at the woman. "Don't worry. We'll come by and visit when this is all over."   


"As long as we get free food!" Cait added, before giving Yuffie another bonk on the head with his megaphone.   


Kyra still looked upset. "But just how do you guys propose to get down to the runway? It's not a short drive, mind you, and you have…let's see…one, two, three, four…THIRTEEN people to transport including your prisoners! I hope you're not planning on walking. I have an idea." She said this massive tumult of words in one single breath. Cloud was suitably impressed.   


"What idea?" he asked dubiously.   


"You can take my van," the woman suggested. "If, of course, you don't mind rubbing shoulders with your prisoners. I'd be happy to drive you down there."   


"You have a restaurant to run," Rude interrupted.   


Kyra looked at him incredulously. "Gimme a break, Rude. No one's coming in during this weather, and I want to see that you all make it out of here safely."   


Cloud shook his spiky head. "No, we can't endanger you like that. We have two dangerous bounty hunters as prisoners, and there are other assassins after us as well."   


Glowering at the swordsman, Kyra opened her mouth to argue when Rude suddenly cut in quietly, "Kyra, you just escaped from a life of shoot-outs and murder. Wouldn't it be counterproductive to willingly jump back in?"   


Kyra glared at her friend with anger still simmering in her amber eyes, but Cloud could tell Rude's soft-spoken words of logic had defeated her vehement persistence. "Fine!" she snapped. "But if I can't drive you, someone else I trust is going to. I'm calling my friend Cedric. HE'LL drive your stubborn asses to the runway."   


** ** ** **   


Kyra's friend, Cedric Takai, turned out to be much younger than Tifa had expected. He entered the restaurant and threw back the hood of his black rain slicker, revealing a head of short, unruly brown hair and a youthful face. But though he didn't appear much older than Yuffie, his green eyes bore that soul-searching shrewdness similar to the gleam in both Kyra and Rude's eyes. A quiet, unthreatening air swathed his figure, but Tifa was fairly certain that he could turn dangerous in an instant if the need presented itself. Quiet without being shy. Unthreatening without being meek. It took a person with a lot of inner strength to develop such qualities.   


Rude immediately strode over and shook the young man's hand, not all fazed by the dampness of the newcomer's slender fingers. "Cedric, it's good to see you again," he said, and Tifa was surprised at the deep sincerity in the normally stoic Turk's voice.   


Cedric nodded. "I could say the same for you, Rude. It's been years since I've seen you last."   


"You've gotten taller," Rude commented.   


"Growth spurt," Cedric said by way of explanation, a faint smile on his lips. He peered around Rude at the bar area. "How are you, Kyra?"   


The woman smiled. "Just fine, hon. Thanks for coming down on such short notice."   


The green-eyed man shrugged. "Not much business in this rain anyways. The boss didn't have a problem with letting me come down. I hear I'll be drivin' the bus."   


Kyra sighed tolerantly. "VAN, not a bus."   


A small smile came to Cedric's lips, but he didn't say anything. Tifa had a feeling it was a running joke between the two.   


"Cedric, this is Reno, commander of the Turks," Rude announced formally, stepping back and gesturing towards Reno with one hand.   


If Reno was surprised at the sudden introduction, he didn't show it. He had been in the middle of slipping on his suit jacket when Rude first spoke, but when Cedric's calm gaze turned his way, he finished putting his arm through the remaining sleeve and strode forward to shake the young man's hand. Reno, surprisingly enough, had no witty comment to offer as a first impression. The two men merely nodded to each other.   


Rude continued, "And this is Cloud Strife, leader of AVALANCHE."   


Cloud had to slide off his stool and cross the entire room to shake Cedric's hand. He nodded to the young man and said, "Thank you for coming down."   


Cedric stared at him. "No problem."   


Cloud lifted an eyebrow. "What is it?"   


Frowning, Cedric replied unobtrusively, "There was so much hype over AVALANCHE a year ago. Everyone made such a big deal about you, and no offense, but I was expecting someone a little taller."   


Snickers spread throughout the room. Cloud only shrugged casually, scratching the back of his head and unconsciously standing a little straighter.   


Reno laughed. "No dice, Strife. Even that Chia pet hair of yours can't help you now."   


"I don't know," Barret said jokingly. "I ain't seen no Chia pet grow THAT big."   


"Everyone's a critic," Cloud sighed dismally.   


More laughter erupted, and though Tifa felt bad finding humor at Cloud's expense, she needed to laugh wholeheartedly for once. No more forced smiles or hollow laughter. Often, in dire times such as these, she found it necessary to remind herself that in the end, her friends were still…her friends.   


//Chia pet hair and all// she thought fondly, staring at Cloud's comically sour face. She smiled, sharing a personal joke with herself.   


Cedric looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Mr. Strife. I didn't mean to insult you."   


Cloud waved a gloved hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. I've always been short. You get used to being the butt of jokes after a while." He glanced around the room. "Well, I guess we'd better get going. Not much use delaying it any longer."   


Cloud sent Reno, Elena, and Cedric out to pack up the van. Tifa experienced a brief moment of dread when she thought that Reno might put up a fight, but to everyone's surprise, he obeyed without a word. It was strange, but Reno and Cloud seemed to be getting along a little better as of late. Now, wasn't *that* uplifting!   


Getting everyone's things packed up was the easy thing. However, packing up their two prisoners was a different story. Cedric drove the van out to the front of the restaurant, and Tifa and the rest had to act as an armed guard to escort Titus and Fa-Li out of the basement and to the van. Their progress went smoothly; neither of the prisoners put up a fight. But Tifa noticed that Fa-Li's eyes kept darting nervously around, probably searching for her ex-husband and fearing the prospect of facing him again. Fortunately, Reno was mysteriously absent when they ushered the two prisoners into the back of the van, and he magically reappeared once everyone else was filing in. Fa-Li ended up pressed against one end of the van with Reno on the other. With the long seat and a bunch of people between the two ex-lovers, Tifa's nerves were placated.   


They had to wait a few more minutes while Rude said his good-bye to Kyra. The tall Turk hugged the woman and kissed her cheek (much to Elena's consternation), climbed into the front seat of the van beside Cedric, and then they were finally off. Kyra stood in the restaurant's entrance, waving good-bye until the van disappeared into the pouring rain.   


Tifa sat quietly in between Elena and Reno, her hands folded in her lap and her mind trying its best to ignore the discomforts of riding in the back of the van with eleven other people. The heat from so many combined bodies was stifling, and she found herself taking deep, measured breaths to avoid feeling like she was about to suffocate. She, Elena, and Reno had been the three lucky humans (Red XIII didn't count) to be given the opportunity to sit on the floor of the van, their backs resting against the van's rear double doors. Every time Cedric drove over a pothole, Tifa could feel the doors rattling dangerously behind her. She swallowed hard. It would definitely put a damper on their trip if the doors flew open, and she went flying back onto the street behind her.   


The van hit an overzealous speed bump, and the doors creaked so loudly that Tifa and Elena both leaned forward fearfully. Reno stayed reclining against the doors, seemingly unconcerned.   


"Stupid doors are gonna fly open and spill us out onto the pavement," Elena muttered, breaking the weary silence that had settled over the group.   


Tifa agreed wholeheartedly, but Reno spoke up, "Quit complaining, Laney. I'd rather be running around in the rain than dying of suffocation back here." The redhead dug into his pocket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Tifa looked at the ominous objects and began to feel faint just *thinking* of what inhaling second hand smoke would be like in such a confined space.   


"Turk!" Barret yelled. "You light one of those up, and I'm gonna ram that lighter up yer ass!"   


Reno sneered at him. "You're all the way across the goddamn van. I'd like you see you get your big, bulky butt over here."   


Barret's brown eyes bulged with anger. "You little shit!" He leapt to his feet and promptly smacked his head on the top of the van. Cursing, he plopped back down onto the seat, and Vincent let out muffled grunt.   


"Oops, sorry, Vince. Was that yer hand?"   


"Yes," Vincent replied, flexing his fingers.   


Reno put a cigarette in his mouth and flicked his lighter.   


Cid glowered menacingly at the Turk. "Don't even think about it. If I can't light up, then neither can you!"   


Reno rolled his aquamarine eyes in exasperation, but he didn't make a move to light the cigarette. "Once again, I would like to bring to your attention the fact that you're way the f*** over there, and I'm way the f*** over here. In other words, your threats don't mean jack shit to me."   


"Reno, Cid, cool it," Cloud snapped.   


Cid scowled. Reno flicked his lighter obnoxiously, this time prompting an annoyed outburst from half the van's occupants. Yuffie got so overexcited that she accidentally kicked Red in the ribcage, which spurred another angry argument. Cait jumped in, and soon everyone was bitching at each other without end.   


Tifa sighed and looked at Elena, who in turn stared back at her. The two women were the only ones not yelling, with the exception of Vincent, who was trying to keep a very pissed-off Yuffie from leaping to the other side of the van to strangle Cait.   


"So what do you think is worse," Elena asked Tifa sourly. "This, or riding in the buggy?"   


"I think they're both different rungs of Hell," the brunette grumbled, raising her knees up to her chest and folding her arms across them. She groaned and closed her eyes, remaining in the same position until the van finally rumbled to a halt. Immediately, all the noise in the back died down, as if someone had flicked a switch. The following silence was deafening after so much angry chatter.   


The doors at Tifa's back suddenly flew open, and Elena would have tumbled right onto the wet pavement if Rude hadn't caught her.   


"You alright?" he asked the female Turk, who only stared up at him with wide brown eyes, her mind apparently not registering how close she had come to munching the asphalt.   


"Man, Rude," Reno chided. "Warn us before you do that. I almost fell out."   


"*You* almost fell out?" Elena exclaimed as Rude helped her out of the van.   


Tifa tugged nervously on the hem of her miniskirt, wondering if there was any way she would be able to whirl and slide out of the van without flashing someone. After a moment's hesitation, she decided that there wasn't, and she would just have to make the action as quick and least humiliating as possible.   


Taking a deep breath, she spun on her backside and hopped out of the van in one swift motion. She was actually starting to think that the worst anyone had seen was a long line of thigh when she caught Reno grinning at her.   


"I flashed?" she asked warily.   


"You flashed," he confirmed.   


A tinge of red colored her cheeks, and she yanked her skirt down some more. "Because someone packed me nothing but minis and tank tops when they left the bar," she grumbled.   


"Hey, the bar was on fire," Reno protested. "It wasn't like I had a lot of time to deliberate. You're lucky I packed your panties."   


"Thanks," Tifa mumbled. She never thought she'd see the day when she'd stand underneath a stormy sky, getting pounded by the pouring rain and discussing underwear with Reno.   


Someone jostled her back, and she turned to find Cloud close behind her. "We're going to unload the prisoners," he whispered, cutting his eyes briefly towards Reno.   


Of course, the Turk didn't miss the exchange. "You got something to say to me, Strife?" he demanded.   


"We're going to escort the prisoners to the elevator," Cloud said in a regular tone of voice. "Why don't you and Tifa go check and make sure it's functioning properly?"   


Reno glared at him. "All you had to do was ask. No need for the 'whisper, whisper, nudge, nudge' crap."   


That said, he stalked off, and Tifa had to run a few steps to put herself beside him. She knew Cloud had wanted her to take Reno off so he didn't have to be exposed to Fa-Li's presence any more than was necessary. He was treating Reno like a walking time bomb, and Tifa thought there was good reason for his actions, but she also believed that Reno had a bit more control over himself than everyone was assuming.   


Tifa looked dubiously at the elevator as they made their way towards it. "Is this thing going to hold thirteen people?"   


Reno shoved his hands in the pockets of his dark blue slacks. "If it doesn't, then we're screwed."   


"Great," Tifa said, stepping tentatively onto the metal surface. She thought she heard it creak beneath her, and it took some effort not to wince.   


Reno took a flying leap onto the elevator, and the whole thing shook. Tifa let out a startled yip and clung to the railing, squeezing the metal bar tightly and praying the thing didn't break and spill her into the ocean below.   


Noting her discomfort, Reno put an arm around her shoulders and smiled soothingly. "Don't worry, honey. This thing is meant to send loads of heavy machinery up to the runway. It's not going to break just because my skinny ass was stomping on it."   


//But what about when everyone else piles on?// Tifa thought to herself, but decided not to voice her morbid prediction of how many violent deaths awaited them if the elevator suddenly gave out.   


It took a while for everyone to squeeze onto the elevator, and during the entire time, Tifa maintained her deathgrip on the railing, chanting the words, "It's not going to break. It's not going to break" over and over in her head. She had never had a fear of heights, but now it seemed that such a phobia was beginning to take root in her mind. And once she found herself crushed in between Reno and Vincent, she decided claustrophobia would probably be coming along from the ride.   


After what seemed to be an eternity, Rude called, "Everybody on?"   


A chorus of grumbled "yes"s issued from the dissatisfied bunch, but Tifa focused all her efforts on drawing a breath. Vincent's hair was nice to look at, but she had to keep her head lolled back in order to avoid dragging some of the ebony strands up her nose.   


"All necessary body limbs on board the elevator?" Cait quipped, then let out a cry of surprise as someone - presumably Yuffie - gave his moogle a good, stiff kick.   


There was the sound of a switch being thrown, and then the elevator gave a violent shudder, like a frightened child awakening from a horrendous nightmare. Tifa felt the elevator's gears grinding and squealing, straining underneath the weight of so many people. For a single, heartless moment, she was completely convinced that the entire thing wasn't going to hold, but then, slowly but surely, the elevator began to ascend towards the runway, inch by reluctant inch.   


"This thing looked a lot bigger when there weren't so many damned people on it," Reno muttered from behind her. They were pressed so close together his breath fluttered a few select strands of her hair.   


Tifa didn't reply, but she agreed wholeheartedly.   


"Cloud, I really hope that's your sword poking me and not something else," Yuffie suddenly said.   


"Idiot, Spike ain't even NEAR you!" Barret snapped.   


"Well, I can't see! Here I am pressed against the railing. Vinnie's standing on my foot, and I'm practically sitting on a goddamn moogle!"   


"Don't damn my moogle!"   


"Someone's breath smells."   


"No, I think someone cut the cheese again."   


"Dammit, Titus, move over! You're invading my personal space!"   


"......."   


"Elena, get off my tail."   


"Oops! Sorry, Red!"   


"Are we there yet?"   


"Shut up!" Reno roared, and Tifa cringed away from him, leaning her upper torso over the railing. She was pleasantly surprised to find the air was more plentiful and much cooler away from all the cramped bodies, and she would have spent a few more moments savoring the crispness of it when Reno suddenly jerked her back towards them.   


"Whoa, sister," he warned. "Don't dangle over the railing like that unless you want to be sliced in half when this thing finally gets up to that damn runway."   


"But I can't breathe," she murmured.   


"Just hold on, Tifa," Vincent urged calmly. "We're almost there."   


Vincent spoke truly, for as soon as the words were out of his mouth, the elevator suddenly shuddered to a gentle stop. Tifa and Reno were both positioned so that they had an unobstructed view of the runway, and it was with great relief that Tifa greeted the sight of the Highwind hovering obediently in the rain-filled air, braving the barrage of raindrops and the incessant roar of thunder above it.   


But unfortunately, the Highwind wasn't the only thing waiting for them on the runway.   


At the base of the airship stood two figures, one male and one female. Both of their appearances were striking enough that even from this distance, Tifa had no trouble discerning the majority of their features. The man was tall with long, well-muscled limbs hidden in loose, billowing white garments that gave the initial impression of an angelic entity, but the gleam in his dark green eyes and the angry scar that ran down his left cheek - there was nothing angelic about those. He stood with his hands shoved in his pockets and a smirk on his handsome face. Glancing downwards, Tifa saw that oddly enough, the man's feet were bare, and she immediately pinned him as a martial artist. Some of the more seasoned fighters preferred having their limbs free and unfettered during battle, and apparently this man was one of them. Tifa made a mental note to watch him closely.   


His female companion was all sensuous curves accented by clinging black pants, a pale blue tank top, and knee-high brown leather boots. She would have been absolutely breathtaking had it not been for the severe, cruel expression that even her full lips and flowing brown hair couldn't compensate for. Her only other flaw might have been that her arms seemed overly muscular when compared with the rest of her solid, but still feminine, figure, but once Tifa saw the weapon the woman carried, she knew that all those muscles were absolutely necessary. The woman had a huge scythe braced against her trapezius, balancing it with those corded arms in the same fashion that Cid sometimes held his spear outside of battle. It was one of the largest weapons Tifa had ever seen. The blade alone appeared over three feet long and looked wickedly sharp, though how sharp Tifa wasn't eager to find out.   


"Off the elevator," Cloud suddenly uttered, hand gripping the hilt of the Ultima Weapon, but not pulling it from its sheathe just yet. "Fan out across the runway, but stay away from the edges."   


The two figures made no move to attack as Tifa and the others flooded off the crammed elevator, spreading out across the end of the runway. The area was easily fifty feet wide - more than enough space to accommodate eleven fighters and two prisoners - but still Tifa's heart thudded loudly in her chest no matter how she urged it to be still. She tried to calm herself, to allow her mind to slip into cold battle mode, but it just wasn't happening.   


Tifa found herself on the left side of the runway, close to Rude, Titus, and Yuffie. In the back of her mind, she vaguely registered the fact that Titus had come off the elevator as well, standing amongst them even though he had no means of attacking or defending himself. Tifa wasn't sure how she felt about that. Humanized villains only made for more emotional conflicts, as she had learned in the past.   


The scythe-bearing woman stepped forward, a gust of wind sending her long brown hair fluttering about her slender figure. "Members of AVALANCHE and the Turks," she greeted in a voice that bore the heavy accent of the Midgar slums. "I am Jezebel, and my partner and I have come for Titus and Fa-Li. You are not our targets so why don't you just step aside?"   


Cloud rebelliously stepped forward, eyes cold. "I think you're the ones that need to step aside. You're standing between us and our Airship."   


Jezebel smiled unkindly. "And you are standing between us and our targets. I will not lie to you, Cloud Strife. Eventually, we will kill you, but for today we will let you and your friends go free out of the kindness our hearts."   


Cid snorted. He had the Venus Gospel in his hands but hadn't raised it yet. "I can see in your eyes that there ain't nothin' kind 'bout you. I'd rather throw this shit down now instead of later."   


"You said it, foo!" Barret seconded.   


The look in Jezebel's deep brown eyes was scornful. "I've heard many things about AVALANCHE, but no one ever said that they were fools as well."   


"You're blocking our escape route," Cloud snapped. "I think you need to reevaluate who are the foolish ones in his situation." With one graceful motion, he pulled the Ultima Weapon free of its sheathe, its faintly luminescent white metal shimmering with anticipation.   


Jezebel's eyes followed the movement of the blade. "So this is the Ultima Weapon," she commented. "High Priest Ajax is extremely interested in this sword. He told me to try and bring it back to him if at all possible."   


Cloud lifted the sword in front of him as his feet slid into the customary battle stance. "You can have the sword when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers."   


Jezebel laughed, a deceptively sweet sound. "Oh, I like you. No wonder you're the one they call leader."   


"Get out of our way," Cloud deadpanned. Behind him, Cid and Barret readied their weapons, positioning themselves to defend the helpless Fa-Li if worse came to worst.   


Jezebel saw this and frowned. "Why do you defend your prisoners?"   


"Because they can't defend themselves," Cloud replied.   


Again the woman laughed, but it was bitter this time. "By Shiva, you ARE fool. At least ONE of your prisoners is perfectly capable of defending himself even if he had all his limbs bound and broken. Isn't that right, Titus?"   


"That is true," Titus replied calmly.   


Out of the corner of her eye, Tifa glanced at him dubiously. Mythril-reinforced handcuffs bound his hands, they had stripped him of all his armor (one measly Bolt Armlet), and he had no weapons on his person. Sure, he still had his feet, but unless he knew a martial arts style that focused on powerful footwork, Tifa seriously doubted the bounty hunter's ability to hold his own when it came to an actual battle.   


"I'm going to give you one last chance," Jezebel said, voice hardening. "Hand over Titus and Fa-Li, or we're going to have to get serious here."   


"Then hurry up!" Reno suddenly snapped, striding forward to stand next to Cloud, a familiar nightstick of tarnished gold clutched in his gloved hand. "We've been serious all along, sister."   


The two leaders had spoken. That was everyone else's cue to ready themselves for battle. Taking a deep breath, Tifa raised her fists and fell into a battle ready stance. All around her, weapons were coming out, fists coming up. Titus tensed, sliding his feet wider apart and hunkering lower to the ground in some kind of defensive position.   


Jezebel sighed, though what flashed through her cold brown eyes wasn't disappointment, but a wintry eagerness, a dark lust for battle. A small smile came to her lips as she curled her gloved fingers around the shaft of the scythe, lifting it off her shoulders as if it weighed nothing. Everyone stiffened, the scent of dread thickening in the battle-charged air. Tifa had never seen anyone use a scythe as a battle weapon, and this unknown factor gave birth to a thick and choking uncertainty. But Jezebel didn't move to attack, only stood there with her scythe raised above her head, a smile on her full lips.   


The man behind her, silent until now, suddenly smirked and launched himself straight into the air. The minute his bare feet left the ground, Tifa knew they were in trouble. She had seen many graceful martial artists in the past, but this man made all the others seem like lumbering elephants in comparison. His white garments billowed about his lean form as he twisted once in the air, and, still grinning, lashed the suddenly heavy air with one bare foot. Sparks blossomed in the wake of his foot like a swarm of fireflies, and then a massive storm of white-hot fire sailed in their direction, flames roaring with sinister hunger. Heat blasted Tifa's body, beating against her skin like a dozen fire ants set loose on her flesh.   


She had time for only one thought. //To call fire without materia...that's impossible!//   


"Move!" Cloud cried.   


At the sound of his voice, Tifa flung her body to the left, away from the approaching flames. She vaguely saw Titus tackling Yuffie and shielding the girl's body with his own as they rolled across the rough concrete. Heedless of the stinging scrapes she received on her arms and legs, Tifa kept rolling away from the blistering heat until she struck something warm and solid: Rude.   


Lurching to her knees as fast as her spinning vision would permit, Tifa saw that she, Rude, Titus, and Yuffie were separated from the rest of their friends by a wall of fire that seemed to sprout straight from the concrete itself, burning ceaselessly. Another impossible feat. That man - that martial artist - could call fire without a magic incantation OR the aid of materia. And the fire he called could burn in places where no fire would ever be able to burn…   


//No...it can't be!//   


Tifa felt her heart beating out of control as she watched the flames dancing and contorting of their own accord. "Rude," she whispered. "That fighting style - is that…?"   


"I hope not, Tifa," the Turk whispered back. "For all our sakes."   


//Rude sees it too...//   


Yuffie's voice suddenly came from somewhere off to Tifa's left, high and shrill. "Get offa me, Titus! You're squashing the Conformer!"   


Quickly, Tifa leapt to her feet, raising her fists once again, for all the good they would do against the incredible power she had just witnessed. Rude remained crouched on the ground, his gun clutched in one large hand.   


The man who wielded the fire walked casually towards them, a smile playing on his lips, hands shoved in the pockets of his baggy white pants. The wind tore at his spiky brown hair, sending some of the longer strands flying into his eyes, deep green wells in which flames danced eternally. He looked very pleased with himself. Jezebel was nowhere to be seen.   


Tifa stood her ground, though something deep inside her wanted to run. The unnatural wall of fire flanked her right side, and beyond it, she could only assume that her remaining friends were battling Jezebel, judging from the sounds that fought to be heard over the roar of the flames. Rude knelt slightly behind her, gun held at the ready. Further beyond him were Titus and Yuffie, sprawled dangerously close to the edge of the runway. Titus crouched on all fours over Yuffie in a position that looked vaguely obscene, but he had all of her body completely shielded. However, the awkward stance also hindered the movement of Yuffie's limbs, much to the ninja's consternation.   


"Titus! Move!" she cried, eyes on the approaching man. "We're gonna get burnt to a crisp!"   


The dark-haired man smiled. "Don't worry about it, Yuffie Kisaragi. Titus knows that as long as he sticks close to you, I can't fry him. You're still such a sly bastard, Titus."   


Titus didn't reply, only stared fearlessly at the man.   


The man stopped about ten feet away from their group, a darkly fond look crossing his face as he looked at Titus. "It's been a year, Titus. One entire year. Man, how time flies."   


"I see your scar has healed nicely," Titus deadpanned.   


Anger flashed briefly across the man's face before it was quickly contained. "You know," he said casually, "this wasn't our original plan. No, Jezebel wanted us to whittle away at your numbers and destroy your morale before moving in for the kill. I WAS going to take out that pretty, red-haired lady at the restaurant, but someone had to show up and ruin my fun."   


He looked pointedly at Rude, who only stared back at the man impassively, face inanimate and eyes hidden behind his dark sunglasses. But Tifa detected a fine trembling in his shoulders and knew that he was furious - furious that the enemy had lurked right under their own roof, and he had failed to realize it. Tifa understood completely; she would have been absolutely livid if she were in Rude's position.   


"C'mon, Titus," the man urged in a light, jesting tone, as if the two were old friends instead of what looked to be sworn enemies. "Why don't you and me go at it one more time? I've been waiting a long time for this day." He took a menacing step forward, a smile still on his face though his eyes held a dark cruelty, a deep-rooted sadism akin to what Tifa had seen in Jezebel's eyes. And the focus of that hungry darkness was the immobilized, handcuffed form of Titus who, despite what the man said, looked as if he were trying to protect Yuffie rather than save his own skin.   


//I can't let this happen// Tifa thought. //He's our prisoner. If he weren't in handcuffs right now, he might be able to defend himself, but...//   


Scrambling past Rude, Tifa stepped in front of the prone forms of Titus and Yuffie, blocking them from view. "Don't come any closer," she said coldly. "Titus is under my protection."   


The dark-haired man stopped, staring at her as if she had just appeared out of nowhere. "You?" he asked incredulously.   


Steeling herself, Tifa stated, "If you are a true martial artist, you will honor my claim. To get to him, you'll have to go through ME first!"   


"Tifa, no!" Yuffie whispered fiercely.   


The man looked annoyed, but a certain gleam flickered in his eyes, as if she were dog who had done a remotely interesting trick. "You've got to be kidding me," he growled. "State your name and style."   


She balled her hands into fists. "Tifa Serenity Lockheart of the Zangan Ryu."   


"ZANGAN Ryu?" the man echoed with a condescending sneer. "Don't make me laugh. How can a silly woman who practices an outdated family style expect to beat me?"   


The mockery in his voice made Tifa's blood boil, but she willed herself to remain calm. "You didn't give me your name. As your challenger, it is my right to know who I face."   


The man's green eyes narrowed, suddenly brimming with a dark fire that gave them a faint glow akin to Mako luminescence. Tifa held her breath, muscles rigid and face emotionless. Honesty was highly valued between martial artists of any style, and if this man refused to give her his name, the transgression would be unforgivable.   


However, after what seemed like an eternity, the man answered in a low voice, "Hiei Montana [1] of the Shido no Hi Ryu."   


Tifa's heart skipped a beat as she heard those four dreaded Wutainese words drop from his lips. //Just like I thought. He uses the Dawn's Fire Style. Good God, I thought everyone who knew this style was dead//   


"Dawn's Fire!" she heard Yuffie gasp.   


"Tifa!" Rude exclaimed.   


She ignored them both. "Very well, Hiei Montana, if you wish to fight someone, then you shall fight another martial artist. You shall fight ME!"   


"I don't have time for this," Montana said with a weary sigh. "I'm impressed that you all seem to be familiar with my fighting style, but a battle with you would be nothing but slaughter."   


"If you take me or my fighting style lightly, you're going to regret it," Tifa seethed, raising her fists in front of her face, the razor-sharp metal of the Premium Heart a shimmering design against the deep red and black of her glove.   


Montana stared at her. "You're serious, aren't you?"   


"Deadly," Tifa said flatly, and she meant it.   


The dark flames within Montana's deep green eyes leapt and contorted, and suddenly Tifa felt another wave of blistering heat strike her. Only this new assailant didn't come in the form of a roaring firestorm. Instead, it lashed and buffeted her like a hot, scalding wind, invisible to the eye but undeniable in its presence. It burned her lungs like poisonous smoke, crackled against her skin like wildfire. The air suddenly smelled of sulfur and brimstone.   


The air in front of her shimmered as if in the grips of a massive swelling of heat, but she still heard Montana's words, thick and pulsing with power. "My power is a blessing from Fire God Ifrit himself. You in your wildest dreams could never conceive of defeating me."   


"Doesn't matter," Tifa gasped, fighting to keep her voice steady. "Titus is under my protection, and you're not getting to him unless you go through me first!"   


Montana sighed, and his power swooped back into him. "So be it. I swear by my honor that Titus will remained unharmed until you are defeated."   


"And the others as well."   


Montana smiled slyly. "They weren't part of the deal, but I'd be willing to throw them in for a small price."   


"Name it," she said immediately.   


His smile widened into a satisfied grin. "Your life. I fight for keeps, Tifa Lockheart. I do not just defeat my opponents; I kill them. Give me your life, and I'll spare theirs."   


"Fine," she said.   


"No, Tifa!" Yuffie cried again.   


"Don't do this," Rude uttered. Only Titus remained silent.   


Their words fell on deaf ears. At that moment, all Tifa knew was Montana. Her brown eyes roved over his slender, well-muscled limbs, watching for any indication that he was about to attack. All of Tifa's past opponents had usually borne some telltale indication that betrayed their intentions a split second before they executed the action itself. Tifa clearly remembered Zangan training her for hours on end, trying to break her from the habit of shifting her weight to her right foot before attacking, as it signified the beginning of her attack and was painfully obvious to a skilled opponent with well-trained eyes.   


In the end, Tifa had managed to shake herself of the nasty habit, and she still prided herself for accomplishing such a task. She thought herself a more than decent fighter, but...but if she was so powerful, then why was her heart racing as she stared into Montana's green eyes? Why did sweat pour down her face in rivulets, eagerly taking the place of the rain that had stopped without Tifa realizing it? Montana stood before her, hands casually shoved in his pockets and a devil-may-care smile playing on his lips. No raised fists, no battle stance, no sign whatsoever that he was (as far as Tifa knew) the heir of the Shido no Hi Ryu, a martial arts style that had supposedly been dead for centuries.   


Then, without warning, Montana suddenly leapt into motion, dancing – there was no other word for the massive upheaval of graceful motion that animated his limbs – to his left, towards the flames that still burned defiantly on the concrete. Tifa automatically started moving in the opposite direction, trying to keep a safe distance between the two of them, but then she stopped dead in her tracks, realizing that he was trying to set her up with her back to the edge of the runway so that one well-placed attack would send her flying into the ocean below. According to the stories she had heard about the heirs of the Shido no Hi Ryu, Tifa had no doubt such an attack would have been easy for Montana.   


//He'll try and close the distance between us// she thought to herself. //I have to attack first//   


Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rude making a run for the Highwind. Yuffie, at Titus' insistence, followed only a few steps behind, and Tifa felt a great rush of relief that at least they were going to be alright. On the other side of the flames, she knew that Jezebel had probably engaged her other friends in combat, and she could only send out a brief prayer that their battle prowess wouldn't fail them.   


Tifa launched herself forward, booted feet flying across the concrete. Montana came to a halt, and Tifa threw a powerful punch with her right hand, aimed on shattering every bone in his face. The man dodged it with lazy ease, spinning so that Tifa went flying right past him, suffering more from wounded pride than anything else. She felt his bare foot connect with her back, making several of her vertebrae crackle in disharmony. The force of the blow actually lifted her into the air for a few seconds before she came to a stumbling halt, her lower back a mass of writhing agony. The blow Montana gave her didn't just hurt, it *burned*, as if someone had shoved a torch against her bare skin.   


The familiar sensation of ants crawling over her body returned, and Tifa lurched to her feet and ran for all she was worth, going straight and then diving to the right just as another wave of unnatural fire crashed down behind her, hungry tendrils of flame reaching for her legs. Tifa rolled and was on her feet in an instant, heedless of the bleeding scrapes now adorning her knees.   


She whirled around, already lifting her hands in preparation of another attack. Montana suddenly came leaping over his own flame wall, all billowing white clothes and powerful muscles. By the time his feet contacted the ground, Tifa was on him, concentrating all her power into one kick. Faster than lightening, faster than anything Tifa had ever known, Montana batted her leg aside with his own foot and punched her in the stomach.   


All the air left Tifa's lungs in a great burning whoosh, and she felt her body swing forward, her cheek brushing the sleeve of Montana's white jacket. The scent of him, youthful and masculine, reached her nose, and it was only then, with her body completely wrapped around Montana's fist, that she felt the true extent of his power. It coursed through his veins like liquid fire, originating from an unnatural yet holy essence sheathed deep in his body. It was ghastly. It was great. And it was very much inhuman.   


//Fire God...Ifrit//   


A spark suddenly ignited itself where Montana's fist was pressed against Tifa's bare stomach, and the woman suddenly realized why Montana left his feet, hands, and chest bare, and why the jacket could be easily removed in the heat of battle. Montana's power wasn't just inside him, it was on him, and all around him. It sang in his blood, and zinged its way across his very flesh. Therefore, the more contact his bare skin made with his opponent, the better.   


The smell of burning flesh assaulted Tifa's nostrils a second before she felt the Holy Fire of Ifrit blossom right on her stomach. For a second, she felt like Montana's punch had injured more than just her body; she felt as if he had made contact with her spirit, and was in the process of forcing it from her body with a wave of rolling fire. Blinding pain seared her mind, and then she felt herself streaming through the air like a rag doll, sparks dancing like energetic fireflies to mark her flight. She caught a glimpse of Montana through the swarm of fire, and she saw the smug grin on his handsome face, his fist still hanging in the air, frozen in the position that had been her undoing.   


Darkness swallowed her vision a second before she felt the jarring impact of her body slamming into the concrete. The added pain was too much for her wounded spirit to handle, and she fell unconscious even as her body continued rolling across the pavement.   


** ** **   


Cloud narrowly dodged another swipe from Jezebel's scythe, reluctantly maneuvering himself closer to the flame wall that separated him from Tifa and the others. Jezebel hadn't said a word since she had begun her attack, and her cold brown eyes gave Cloud no indication of what her intentions were. The swordsman assumed that she and her partner's primary goal was to capture Titus and Fa-Li, but it sure didn't look like she was trying to get to Fa-Li, who was at the moment, fairly safe behind a human barrier made of Cid Highwind, Barret Wallace, and Vincent Valentine.   


Thankfully, neither Cloud nor any of his friends bore any major injuries though Cloud and Reno both had bruises from their failed tactic of dodging underneath Jezebel's scythe and moving to attack her. Both times, the woman had easily repelled the two men with powerful kicks and punches, knocking them back from her while never releasing her grip on her weapon.   


Cloud had to admit that the woman's fighting abilities were more than commendable. Though Cloud's group had over half of the runway to move around on, Jezebel had managed to drive them all back against the edges without allowing a single fighter to sneak behind her for a surprise attack. What made her so dangerous was her great scythe, which had a five-foot reach, give or take a few inches. Whenever Jezebel sent the scythe swinging at one person, everyone nearby was in jeopardy as well.   


In other words, though the odds were drastically tipped in AVALANCHE's favor, Jezebel had them running around blindly, trying to figure out ways to get around her scythe and attack her without getting pummeled in the process.   


And AVALANCHE was doing a crap job of it, if Cloud did say so himself.   


//I can't have Vincent or Barret open fire with us all bunched up like this// Cloud thought furiously. //Besides, the bullets might go through the firewall and hit Tifa or one of the others. And I need to get Cait out of here; that moogle is way too big of a target...//   


"Cloud!" someone cried, right before the blonde felt the presence of something descending on him from above. He instinctively raised his sword and felt metal clash against metal. An ominous force pressed down on him, seeking to drive him to the concrete, but Cloud instead gritted his teeth and threw Jezebel's scythe off to the side, where the tip of it crashed into the runway, sending a spiderweb of cracks slinking throughout the concrete.   


Elena seized the opportunity and pulled a golden orb from inside her jacket. "Take that!" she cried, and sent the orb flying towards Jezebel, who was trying to wretch the end of her scythe out of the concrete.   


The gold orb struck the woman's shoulder dead on, and the Fire magic compressed into the sphere sprung loose, crackling over Jezebel's skin with all the alacrity of a forest fire in the middle of a dry summer.   


"Everyone, run for the Highwind!" Cloud ordered, not bothering to hide his intentions from Jezebel, who was just standing shock still and patiently letting the flames dance all over her skin and clothes.   


Across the runway, he saw Cid and Barret hesitate, gripping their weapons uncertainly.   


"Go!" Cloud roared. "Get the hell out of here!"   


Cid's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Fine, kid. Come on, woman." He grabbed Fa-Li and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.   


"Hey! Put me down!" the Wutainese woman exclaimed, but she made no great efforts to extricate herself from Cid's grip. Barret and Vincent followed the pilot as he raced for the Highwind, and Red and Cait mimicked their actions. Reno began moving in the same direction, but at that moment, the flames surrounding Jezebel's body died out, revealing her face and clothes to be absolutely unmarked by Elena's attack.   


"You'll have to do better than that if you want to beat me," Jezebel told Elena smugly, her brown eyes glittering dangerously as she pulled her scythe out of the concrete.   


Elena swallowed hard and drew her gun from inside her jacket, raising it and aiming down the barrel at Jezebel. The bounty hunter smirked and launched herself straight into the air, causing the bullet to sail harmlessly below her. Flexing the muscles in her powerful arms, she raised the scythe above her head, scissoring her legs to gain momentum. Reno and Cloud both scrambled to get out of the scythe's range, but Elena stood frozen five feet from the edge of the runway, her eyes filled with the dark knowledge that she was Jezebel's primary target.   


At the last moment, she snapped out of her stupor and tried to doge Jezebel's plummeting scythe, but it was too late. The Turk screamed as the scythe's blade opened a wide, deep gash in her left arm, blood spilling onto the concrete beneath her like crimson tears. The blow knocked her to the ground, where she lay with one arm dangling off the edge of the runway, a hundred feet above the churning ocean. Her brown eyes fluttered as she fought for consciousness. She was a sitting duck just waiting to be skewered.   


Cloud immediately started moving across the runway, using every bit of fancy footwork he knew to maneuver his way behind Jezebel's back. Of course, his movements didn't escape the woman's detection, and her attention immediately shifted from Elena's prone form to the newest threat at her back. She tucked her scythe in between her arm and her right flank in order to shorten the shaft's length and swung it in a horizontal arc, twisting her body in order to increase the power of her attack.   


But Cloud had predicted her reaction, and he quickly ducked underneath the scythe's blade while bringing the Ultima Weapon up to prevent the weapon from finishing its swoop. Sparks flew from the clashing metals, and Cloud felt this boots slide a little ways across the wet pavement, but his ultimate goal was accomplished as Jezebel's scythe stopped its forward motion.   


Before his opponent could react, Cloud unexpectedly let the Ultima Weapon clatter to the floor and transferred his grip to the shaft of Jezebel's scythe, tucking the weapon underneath his arm and holding on tightly. Albeit it wasn't the best tactic to use if Cloud was interested in keeping all of his limbs attached, but his primary objective for this fight wasn't self-preservation.   


"Reno!" he cried, as he and Jezebel began a perilous tug-o-war over the scythe. He felt the blade grinding into his shoulder armor, but he stubbornly planted his feet and held onto the scythe for all he was worth.   


Reno suddenly materialized to Jezebel's right, his nightstick spitting angry sparks and murder gleaming in his aquamarine eyes. The instant Jezebel caught sight of the Turk, she dropped her end of the scythe and pivoted to avoid getting a faceful of electricity. All the nightstick managed to burn were the ends of her brown hair, and the woman instantly took advantage of the situation. She grabbed Reno by the throat, easily lifting him into the air even though he outweighed her by fifty pounds.   


Cloud was already rushing towards the duo with his Ultima Weapon in his hand (he didn't even remember discarding his end of the scythe) when he heard a cold voice come from behind Jezebel.   


"Drop him or I drop you," Elena said flatly, brown eyes hard and emotionless beyond the barrel of her handgun.   


For a split second, Jezebel's eyes flicked to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of the Turk with her peripheral vision. Elena and Reno saw the opening and immediately filled it with violence. Reno fired a burst of electricity right into the woman's face, and Elena shot her in the back of the knee.   


As Jezebel crumbled to the concrete without so much an exclamation of pain, the blast from Reno's own weapon sent him flying backwards, where he hit the ground in a coughing, hacking heap before lurching drunkenly to his feet. Elena rushed around Jezebel's fallen form and joined her male comrade, her left arm hanging useless at her side and leaving a trail of blood in her wake.   


Secretly thankful that both of them were alive, Cloud turned around to head for the Highwind and was instead greeted by the horrific sight of Tifa flying through the air, trailing blood red sparks like a train of crimson stars. Her body struck the ground, bounced once, and then continued rolling across the pavement, her arms and legs getting scraped and bloody. After what seemed like an eternity, she came to a stop, brown hair a tangled mass beneath her and limbs completely devoid of motion. She looked dead.   


Cloud was already running across the concrete, legs eating the distance between himself and Tifa's lifeless body. He heard Elena and Reno behind him, but they didn't matter. All that mattered was getting to Tifa in time, praying that she was alive, and hoping there would be a way to save her from the brink of death.   


His progress was cut short when Jezebel's nameless partner suddenly stepped right in Cloud's path, hands shoved in the pockets of his loose white pants and a serious expression on his face.   


Cloud skidded to a halt. "Get out of my way!"   


"You don't have to worry about her," the man deadpanned. "She's still alive."   


//Tifa...alive...//   


Something had wound itself tight inside Cloud's chest, but it eased slightly as the man's words struck home. "But she's still injured," the swordsman snapped, raising the Ultima Weapon menacingly. "And if you don't move out of the way, I'll just have to go through you." Reno and Elena came up beside him, weapons held ready.   


The tall man rolled his green eyes. "Just go around me. It's not like I'm going to attack you." The disgust in his voice was thick enough to choke on.   


Cloud's blue eyes narrowed. "And why is that?"   


"Tifa's life is yours," the man said flatly. "As per say our agreement."   


Cloud felt a chill go through his body. ~Tifa's life is yours~   


"I didn't hear about any 'agreement'," he snapped, surprised to find that he felt left out, as if Tifa and this man had forged some intimate bond that he had only been informed about ex post facto.   


"Of course you didn't," the man snorted. "It was a promise between martial artists. Nothing to do with you at all."   


"So you're just gonna let us walk right past you?" Reno asked dubiously, and Cloud winced at how hoarse and strangled the Turk's voice sounded.   


The man's green eyes slid to Reno. "I'm honor-bound. It's not like I have a choice in this matter. And it's nice to see you again, Reno Akuma Mitsuru."   


Reno grinned mirthlessly. "Same to you, Montana. And it must really suck to be honor-bound and all that crap. It must *really* suck." With that, he ran right past Montana with a wary Elena following at his heels. Montana stood still and let them go, arms tense with the effort not to run after and kill them on the spot.   


Though he wanted nothing more than to be at Tifa's side as quickly as possible, Cloud gave Montana a wide berth, his eyes never leaving the man's dark green ones. He noticed that Montana's eyes shone with a luminance akin to Mako, but not quite. There was something "off" about the glow, but Cloud couldn't put his finger on it.   


"That attack was supposed to kill Tifa, wasn't it?" Cloud whispered. "But she survived instead, and now you can't touch us until she's dead."   


Montana's eyes were harsh, but a frightening, eager smile spread across his mouth. "You tell Tifa to hurry up and get better before our next battle because I assure you, I will kill her next time around."   


"Will do," Cloud said flatly, and ran to where Reno and Elena were already at the fallen Tifa's side.   


** ** **   


"Yuffie, we really should be getting inside the Highwind," Vincent urged. "You'll want to be indoors when Cid takes off."   


"No," the girl insisted from where she crouched on the deck, her arms wrapped around her knees to ward off the beginnings of nausea that were already forming in the pit of her stomach. "I'm waiting for Tifa to come up here. She didn't have to fight that Montana guy, but she did! So that me and Titus and Rude could go free!"   


Vincent resisted the urge to sigh and gave up trying to get Yuffie to enter the Highwind. He could tell from the sounds down below that the battle was not going in AVALANCHE's favor. The scent of blood mercilessly rode the thick air, a strong wind carrying both the sounds and smells to Vincent, assaulting his senses with them while tearing at his unbound hair. Beneath his feet, the Highwind hummed anxiously, its multiple engines fired up and ready to make their great escape as soon as all its passengers were safely on board.   


Leaving Yuffie crouched stubbornly on the metal deck, he went to the railing and peered over the edge. The sounds of the battle had tapered off, and if it turned out that AVALANCHE had indeed lost the battle with Jezebel and Montana, Vincent would have to be the unlucky one to run inside and inform Cid that they were going to be short several passengers indefinitely.   


But instead of a runway littered with the bodies of his friends, Vincent instead saw a crippled Elena climbing weakly up the rope ladder, using only her right arm and her feet to propel her along. Her left arm dangled uselessly at her side, dripping blood onto the concrete far below them.   


Behind the female Turk came Reno, who seemed to be having no major trouble scaling the ladder, save for his bouts of worried impatience, as he had to wait for Elena to proceed. And still below Reno was Cloud with an unconscious Tifa draped over his shoulders. Though at any other time, Vincent knew Cloud would have had no trouble carrying Tifa's weight, he could see now that the swordsman was laboring, gripping the rope ladder lightly with his gloved hands and making sure he had secure footholds before going up another step.   


Even through the haze of her obvious pain, Elena somehow sensed Vincent's presence and looked upwards, her dull brown eyes meeting Vincent's crimson orbs. "Help me," she whispered. "I can't...feel my arm."   


//She's loosing consciousness// he realized. //That can't happen. If she stops, the others have nowhere else to go//   


The dark gunslinger leaned his entire weight forward onto the railing and dangled his arm down towards Elena, the metal bar digging into his lower chest. The railing had been built high to keep overexcited sightseers from tumbling off the deck, but now that extra safety precaution was acting as a double-edged sword. It gave Vincent something to brace himself with, but it also cut precious inches off his reaching distance.   


"Elena," he said as calmly as possible. "I need you to climb a few more steps."   


"No," the Turk muttered, her body trembling from head to toe. "No more steps."   


"You can do it, Elena," Vincent urged. "Just a few more and I can pull you up without a problem."   


Elena shook her head again, and Reno put a hand on her backside and shoved. "Go, Laney. You can do it. I know you can. Because you're a Turk, and you're strong. Okay, Elena?"   


"Don't...grab my...ass," Elena mumbled, and lurched upwards another step, swinging the whole ladder with her jerky, desperate motion. Vincent knew she only had enough energy left for a few more upward staggers like those.   


With Reno supporting her from behind and – surprisingly enough – yelling encouraging words, Elena managed to make it up those last few steps. True to his word, Vincent reached down and snagged her forearm, holding onto her tightly and lifting her away from the ladder with little effort. Yuffie came up to help, and together the two of them hauled Elena onto the Highwind's rain-slick deck, heedful of Reno's warnings to be careful with the female Turk.   


As Vincent laid her gingerly on the deck, she whispered, "Watch for Montana."   


"I will," Vincent assured her. He was going to assume Montana was the male bounty hunter.   


Elena seemed content with this, and her agony-filled brown eyes finally slipped closed. Vincent turned away from her inanimate face just in time to see Reno clamber over the railing, nearly falling as the soles of his dress shoes slid on the deck.   


"Is she alright?" he demanded hoarsely, and Vincent realized the ring of bruises adoring his pale throat had to be responsible for the vocal distortion. That would be twice in the past few days that enemies had tried to throttle the redheaded Turk. [2]   


"She'll be fine," Vincent said. "But we need to get her inside. Cid's ready to take off."   


Reno cast an ambivalent glance over his shoulder, but his indecisiveness didn't last long. "I'll take her inside," he volunteered, dropping to his knees beside Elena's body. His aquamarine eyes were wide and more worried than Vincent had ever thought possible. "But you've got to help Tifa and Cloud up safely, Valentine. Tifa's hurt, bad."   


Vincent nodded. "I understand."   


Leaving Reno to tend to his fallen comrade, Vincent joined Yuffie at where she was pressed against the railing, fingers dancing worriedly over the wet metal bar, her face creased in anxiety. A few feet below her, Cloud Strife clung to the rope ladder, his hands holding onto the rungs in a strong, immovable death grip. He kept his forehead pressed against the ladder as if he hadn't the strength to move his neck. But then again, he couldn't move his head very far back, for he had one hundred seventeen pounds of Tifa Lockheart draped across his shoulders like a morbid ornament, her arms and legs dangling into open space.   


"We're here, Cloud," Vincent called. "What do you want us to do?"   


Cloud's voice emerged amazingly calm. "I'm going to climb up these steps, and you guys are going to pull her off my shoulders as soon as I get in close enough, okay?"   


"We're ready!" Yuffie affirmed, leaning herself so far over the railing that the soles of her shoes lifted off the decking. Vincent knew the young ninja had excellent balance, but his nerves still jangled unpleasantly at the thought of her pitching over the side and plummeting towards the concrete.   


In a feat of amazing strength, Cloud lurched up a couple of more steps, maneuvering close enough that Vincent could reach down and snag the strap of Tifa's suspenders with his claw. Apologizing silently, he dipped his right arm down and fisted his hand in her tattered tank top, pulling her upwards. The white material ripped a little, but held stubbornly.   


Yuffie quickly came to his aid by grabbing the woman's legs, and together, they carefully hauled Tifa over the railing and laid her on the decking like Elena before her. Tifa's head lolled to the side, and with her limbs sprawled bonelessly, Vincent could see that scrapes and bruises covered nearly every inch of her exposed skin. But that wasn't the worst of her injuries.   


"Vincent, her stomach!" Yuffie gasped.   


"I know," he replied calmly, clinically eyeing the massive burn. "But that's not what we have to worry about. The burn will heal, but her energy is very low, almost as if she's near death."   


"The Holy Fire of Ifrit burns away the spirit as well as the body," Yuffie whispered, sounding as if she were quoting from a textbook. Vincent looked at her questioningly while behind him, Cloud flipped himself artlessly over the railing, landing in a hapless, painful heap on the decking, where he lay gasping for breath.   


Vincent touched his leader's shoulder. "Are you alright?"   


Cloud's Mako blue eyes met his for a second, but that brief time was all Vincent needed to know that the AVALANCHE leader was not alright, and he wouldn't be until they were far away from Junon and the two hunters they had just fought.   


"Yuffie!" Cloud exclaimed, forcing himself into a sitting position. "Run and tell Cid to get us the hell out of here!"   


"Right!" Yuffie said, and was off like a shot, slipping and sliding across the slick deck and tumbling through the door leading into the interior of the Highwind.   


"Vincent," Cloud said in a low voice as he scooted closer to Tifa's prone form. "Go look over the railing and tell me what you see."   


An ebony eyebrow lifted at the peculiar request; Cloud usually wasn't so cagey about things, but Vincent obeyed without a word, striding over to the railing and peering down at the expanse of runway just below them.   


The woman named Jezebel lay in a crumpled, bloody heap near the elevator, her great scythe lying calmly next to her body like a docile pet waiting with absolute assurance for its owner to awaken.   


The bounty hunter Montana stood on the wet concrete, the rain-scented wind tearing at his loose, white clothes. Though the man's features would have been blurry and indistinct to a human's naked eye, Vincent was very far from human. He had no problem making out the satisfied smirk on the man's lips or the smug gleam in those fathomless green eyes. The man raised a long-fingered hand and waved at Vincent, mocking him.   


But Vincent didn't bother to wave back, for he was suddenly distracted by the fact that the supposedly dead Jezebel had begun to rise to her feet.   


** ** ** **   


Yuffie tore up the stairs two at a time, the wet soles of her tennis shoes occasionally flying out from underneath her and spilling her painfully across the metal steps. But each time she went sprawling, she doggedly bounced back to her feet and continued on her hasty way.   


"Cid! Cid!" she cried as she half-stumbled/half-ran into the Highwind's control room. "Cloud says get us the hell outta here!"   


Cid turned from where he had been anxiously pacing in front of the control panel. "Everyone's on?" he demanded, puffing furiously on his cigarette.   


"Yes!" Yuffie exclaimed in exasperation, jumping up and down in one place. "Hurry! Hurry!"   


//I hope Vinnie and the others are inside already// she prayed silently.   


"Alright! We're getting the f*** outta here!" Cid said, turning back to the controls. "Hold onto your panties!"   


The Highwind suddenly lurched beneath Yuffie's feet, and her stomach decided to take a vacation from her midsection and scurry into her throat. She fell into a crouching position, arms wrapped around her belly and a hand clamped over her mouth lest her breakfast decided it wanted to pop out and say hello to the Highwind's metal floor.   


"Dammit, foo, keep this thing steady, will ya!" Barret snapped, holding onto some of the nearby gadgetry. Beside him, Rude also clung for dear life, but in a much calmer fashion.   


"Shut yer flapper," Cid said tersely, as the Highwind's direction of motion suddenly switched from "upward and shaky" to "forward and REALLY shaky." Yuffie's stomach started doing cartwheels, and nausea completely swamped her senses.   


Then, quite suddenly, the Highwind came to a jerking halt, and Yuffie felt herself sliding across the metal floor, only coming to a halt when she plowed into Cait's moogle.   


"Whoa! Are you alright?" the robotic cat demanded worriedly, peering down at the young ninja, his whiskers twitching. "You look kinda green."   


"No shit, Sherlock!" Yuffie tried to say, but all that came out was a nauseated, "Uuurgh!"   


Reno suddenly barreled into the control room, bloodstains all over his white shirt. "What the hell is happening? Did we hit something?"   


"Shut up!" Cid roared, gloved hands flying over the control panel. He jerked the joystick downwards, and the floor beneath them vibrated with the power of the Highwind's multiple engines. Power that was taking them nowhere fast.   


Cid kicked the side of the control panel. "The f*** is wrong with this thing?! If I didn't know better, I would swear we were caught in a tractor beam!"   


Cait hopped over to the control room's equipment console. "I've got nothing else on radar!" he announced, voice high with worry.   


The Highwind suddenly jerked violently to the left, as if some ancient giant had taken hold of the airship and was playfully shaking it around like some sort of insignificant toy.   


"Cid!"   


"It ain't me! I'm not doin' anything!"   


Yuffie's vision began to spin and darken. //I'm gonna barf! No...I'm gonna faint...yeah......//   


Cool fingers clad in fragrant leather brushed her sweaty forehead, and Yuffie abruptly felt her nausea recede like a nightwalking critter scurrying away from the dawn. The darkness left the corners of her vision, and she found Aeris' green eyes in Titus' face staring down at her calmly even as instability raged on every side of her in the form of trembling floors and fearful shouts.   


"This is Jezebel's power," Titus said, the tips of his fingertips still lingering on her forehead.   


Yuffie blinked. "Jezebel?"   


"Hey, you're supposed to be in the cargo hold!" Reno hollered at Titus right before the Highwind tilted almost completely onto its left side.   


Amazingly enough, Titus managed to keep his balance, and his grip on Yuffie's arm kept her from sliding across the floor and into the wall. The Highwind abruptly righted itself, and Titus relaxed his hold, leaving Yuffie on the floor as he quickly made his way over to the cockpit's large viewing windows.   


"Hey!" Reno called. "Someone grab him!"   


"No!" Yuffie cried, hauling herself to her feet and tottering after Titus. "Leave him alone!"   


The Highwind was being shaken as haphazardly as a dog's chewtoy, but by the grace of Water God Leviathan, Yuffie managed to lurch over to where Titus clung to the railing. She wrapped her fingers tightly around the metal rod and pulled herself against it, making sure her footing was secure before looking up at Titus.   


"What are you going to do?" she asked breathlessly.   


Titus tossed his head to get some of his platinum blonde hair out of his eyes. "Jezebel's magic is powerful," he said flatly. "But I can break it."   


"So hurry up and do it!" Yuffie cried, watching as Titus wrapped both his legs around the railing, using the strong muscles of his thighs to cling to it while he raised his gloved hands and clasped them together, handcuffs still binding his wrists. The dark purple half-spheres embedded in the backs of his hands flashed in the light, and Yuffie felt Titus' power, otherworldly and dark, begin rising inside of him. Purple, black, and blue chased one another across the glimmering surface of the strange orbs as the hidden world inside them began to churn. Yuffie suddenly received the impression that if she could plunge into that confined realm, she would find herself assaulted by purple rain that fell from an eternally black sky, and the mists that tried to devour her would be blue and black instead of green...   


The Highwind suddenly flipped upside down, and Yuffie found herself dangling from the railing by her hands, as if it were part of the monkey bars she and her friends used to play on when they were younger. Outside on the runway, she caught a horrific glimpse of Jezebel, whose beautiful face had been reduced to a shapeless mass of red blood and burnt skin. Yet more blood pooled beneath one of her legs, but frightfully enough, the woman didn't give any impression that she was crippled. She had her muscular arms raised in the air, palms open towards the airship that had become her personal toy.   


The hushed murmuring of voices reached Yuffie's ears, so very different from the surprised screams of her friends all around. Stunned, Yuffie turned to her head to see if Titus was making the noises...and instead she saw Aeris kneeling on the crystalline altar in the Forgotten Capital, light brown hair woven in a thick twist behind her head and amazing green eyes closed in peaceful concentration as she prayed to the Planet, prayed for Holy to come and save humanity from the Dark...   


Yuffie's heart caught in her throat, but when she blinked, there was only Titus beside her, hanging upside down from the railing with his hands clasped together in front of his heart.   


~SHATTER~ a voice whispered, and something buried deep within Yuffie's psyche felt the exact moment when Titus' power pierced Jezebel's spell and shredded it with frightening ease.   


The Highwind suddenly seemed to sag as if a great burden had been removed from its shoulders, and the airship shot forward at a frightening speed, the mass balance system returning the ship to equilibrium at the same time. The end result of the simultaneous actions sent Yuffie flying to the floor, where her head slammed into the unforgiving metal. She barely had time to think "ouch" before blackness rolled over her in a massive, world-devouring wave.   


She awoke to find Red sniffing her face like the dog she often teased him as being. His whiskers brushed her cheek, and she resisted the urge to giggle like she used to when her mother instigated tickle fights during Yuffie's childhood.   


"Down, doggie," Yuffie joked, before following her words with a fit of coughing. Her head throbbed like someone was slamming a sledgehammer against her temples, and far above her, the ceiling of the Highwind swam in the sudden haze of pain.   


//Could be worse// she thought giddily. //I could be lying on the ceiling and staring up at the floor. Or I could be smeared across the windows. Or I could be...//   


"My head hurts," she groaned, twitching each of her limbs to see if anything was broken. Nothing seemed to be. Goody. Now all she needed was a Hi-Potion to cure this lulu of a headache.   


"Not surprising," Red XIII replied, sitting next to Yuffie's sprawled body. "Your head struck the floor with a fair amount of force."   


"And why didn't any of you half-witted goobers try and save me?" Yuffie grumped, trying to decide if it was absolutely *imperative* that she sit up. Naw.   


"A thousand pardons," Red said dryly. "We were too busy sliding across the floor and breaking various bones in our body."   


"Can it, Red. None of your legs are broken."   


"No, but Rude broke his arm. Barret has a bloody nose, and Cid has a concussion. Elena and Tifa are both severely injured. Cloud is unconscious, and Vincent broke a crate in the cargo hold when he tumbled off the staircase. Amazingly enough, he only emerged with a few splinters in his arm."   


Yuffie nearly laughed at the image of Vincent pinwheeling off the stairs and landing smack-dab on a crate. "Um, wow, is everyone...okay? Where's Titus?"   


"Back in the cargo hold, handcuffed to a pipe with his lady friend. He's the only one who was unharmed by this entire fiasco."   


Yuffie sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "Yep, that sounds like Titus alright. He's Mr. Invincible, that he is."   


Red was watching her carefully. "Rude said that Titus shattered the spell Jezebel was using to snare us."   


Yuffie closed her eyes briefly, trying to chase away the image of Aeris praying superimposed over Titus' face. "Yeah, he did."   


"I wonder how he did it," Red said meaningfully.   


Snorting, Yuffie struggled to sit up. "Don't look at me. Titus is a freakazoid. If you want to know about the mysteries of the universe, ask him. And hold still." She looped an arm around Red's neck, fisting her hand in his fiery mane as she tensed her stomach muscles and hauled herself into a sitting position, doggedly focusing on the laces of her tennis shoes until the room stopped spinning. She looked around to find that the control room of the Highwind was completely abandoned save for Red, herself, and Cait, who was hovering over the equipment console.   


"Well, look who's up!" he exclaimed once he found Yuffie's gray eyes resting on him. "How are you feeling, sunshine?"   


"Like squatty poo-poo doo-doo," Yuffie replied. "And yourself?"   


Cait gave himself a once-over and readjusted the crown settled between his pointy ears. "I got a bit...roughed up, but other than that, I'm fine and dandy."   


"Good to hear. Are we headed to Rocket Town?" All Yuffie could see outside of the viewing windows were mountains and endless gray skies. They could have been flying in circles around Midgar for all she knew.   


Red nodded. "Yes."   


"But we have no pilot! We'll get struck by lightening or something!"   


Red rolled his eye. "No...we still have one pilot left."   


Yuffie's gray eyes were wary. "And who would that be?"   


"That would be me," Reno announced, clomping up the stairs and giving Yuffie a toothy grin.   


//Oh crap....//   


The young ninja was starting to think that she should have stayed unconscious.   


~owari Ch. 34   


  


Jesus, Christ, that was a long, fuck-off chapter. X_X I'm tired now.   


[1] I know, given my recent Yu Yu Hakusho obsession, you probably think that I got this name from Hiei, but actually I got it from Mt. Hiei in Japan. I though what name would sound good with "Montana" and I ended up with "Montana...mont...mountain...Mt. Hiei!" ^_^   


[2] The Faceless Man back at the Final Heaven bar nearly choked Reno into unconsciousness. 


	37. The Calm

_Summary: After being mind-raped by unnatural creatures called Hissers, Cid keeps having images of a pair of glasses shattering on a floor drenched in blood. Finally, he announces to Cloud that he's going to leave Junon, AVALANCHE's current safe haven, and head towards Rocket Town to see his wife, Shera. Cloud states that the rest of AVALANCHE will follow.  
_

However, as they're making their way to the Highwind, AVALANCHE finds two of the Master's bounty hunters, Jezebel and Montana, waiting for them. In an attempt to keep Montana from harming the others, Tifa binds herself to other martial artist, promising her life to him if he'll leave the others alone. In return, Montana must kill Tifa before he can pursue the rest of AVALANCHE. But Montana's power was more than Tifa bargained for, and she barely manages to survive a deadly fire-blow inflicted by the bounty hunter.  


While Montana fights Tifa, Jezebel gets her face blown off by Reno's nightstick. However, the woman does not go down easily, and as AVALANCHE attempts to escape in the Highwind, Jezebel suddenly trapped the airship with her power. Titus, backed by Yuffie's faith in him, manages to shatter the spell using a prayer that oddly enough, reminds Yuffie of Aeris. Now, AVALANCHE heads to Rocket Town...  


**WARNING: Ok, this a crap chapter. It's a filler chapter, which means no plot, minimal character development, no action of any sort. If you're disappointed, fine. Don't tell me about it cuz I warned you! :P**  


**Sink to the Bottom with You  
Chapter 35: The Calm  
**_"But it's all okay now, as long as I'm here with you." Cid Highwind_  


Shera hummed quietly to herself as she stood at the kitchen sink, washing the dishes that had accumulated from her daytime meals. Rain struck the windowpanes with soft patters before rolling forlornly down the glassy surface. Shera found the sound of rain very soothing in its reliable consistency, even when it fell in sporadic bursts that were anything BUT consistent. Rain always had a calming effect on her, even in the stressful of days as a Shinra engineer when she had loads of paperwork to complete and machinery layouts to look over. Rain would arrive at some time or another, and she always left her cramped Shinra office to watch it fall, letting the sight of the little droplets ease the tension from her frazzled nerves.  


However, now even the rain and her own humming, a sound that reminded her of her childhood, could not alleviate her worries. The rain became an orchestra pit full of sound and fury, her humming an annoying tickle in her throat. Shera turned the last of her off-tune hums into a preoccupied sigh as she let the dirty water drain out of the sink and wiped her hands on a dishtowel.   


Her eyes unwittingly drifted to where the kitchen phone lay still and quiet on its hook. She had received calls from her best friend and sister within the past hour, and although she loved them both and enjoyed talking to them, she really wished her husband would call. He had phoned her from Junon, but the connection had been so terrible that they hadn't been able to talk for long. But even through the incessant crackling of the static, Shera had had no trouble discerning that Cid wasn't himself.   


And now she was worried. So very worried.  


She hadn't received any messages from him within the last 24 hours, and her concern for her husband grew by the second. The news had said that Kalm and Lower Junon were among those cities completely underwater by now, and Shera knew that if the rain continued with the same relentless fervor, it would only be a matter of time before Upper Junon began to suffer as well. Rocket Town had been fortunate not to get excessive amounts of rain; they had quite a few heavy downpours, but nothing like the flooding that had drowned Kalm.  


//The house is so quiet without Cid around// Shera thought to herself. //Right about now, he'd probably be going stir-crazy, pacing through the house, slamming doors, and cursing the rain. Gods, I'm so silly. I miss him already.//  


A murmuring of what sounded like voices outside made Shera jump and glance towards the front door. Since the crime rate in Rocket Town was limited to a couple petty robbers and some local shoplifters, Shera rarely every locked their doors, but...  


//Better to be safe than sorry// Shera told herself. She turned and removed her apron, laying the patterned cloth next to the sink.  


When she turned around, she saw Cid Highwind standing in the open doorway, soaked to the bone. Shera's brown eyes widened until they appeared abnormally large behind her glasses. She had to blink a couple of times to fully comprehend what she was seeing.  


"C-Cid?" she stammered.   


He stared like he had never seen her before, his blue eyes wide underneath the shock of blonde hair the rain had drug over his face. His goggles hung askew on his high forehead, and his clothes were waterlogged and disheveled. A puddle of rainwater was slowing forming underneath Cid as the couple stood gaping at one another.  


"Are you alright?" Shera asked worriedly, not liking the look in her husband's normally keen eyes. He bore the haunted countenance of one who had been through hell and back, and had just maybe left vital pieces of himself behind.  


"I'm...fine," the pilot mumbled, sloshing his way further into the kitchen, leaving the door wide open behind him.  


Shera's brow creased in distress. "Are you sure?" she asked tentatively, though there was really no need for her query. One look into those troubled blue eyes told her that her husband was most definitely *not* alright.  


His gaze remained intensely locked on her face, as if memorizing every feature. He muttered something.  


She took a step towards him. "What? I couldn't hear you."  


He moved forward until there was barely a breath between them, eyes still boring into hers. "Now," he whispered. "Now, I'm gonna be okay."   


Instead of quelling her worry, Shera only felt her concern grow more acute. "I don't understand, Cid," she whispered back. "What happened?"  


"Something bad. But it's all okay now, as long as I'm here with you."  


Reaching out, he wrapped her in a soft embrace, hugging her gently to him as if afraid she'd shatter in his arms. Wetness from his saturated jacket transferred its affection to her blouse and slacks, but Shera didn't care. She held her husband tightly, laying her smooth cheek against his stubbled one. He trembled slightly from either cold or emotion, maybe a little of both. Shera felt tears sting her eyes as she imagined what sort of internal torment could best the indomitable will of Cid Highwind.  


"I love you, Shera," he whispered into her hair.  


She shut her eyes and tightened her grip on her husband. "I love you, too."  


The sound of someone clearing their throat made Shera jump slightly. She opened her eyes and, over the rise of Cid's shoulder, she could see Cloud Strife standing the doorway, spiky hairstyle looking wilted and thoroughly wet, an uncertain smile on his face.  


"Is it alright to come in?" he asked, and behind him, Shera glimpsed what appeared to be an entire crowd of people. All awaiting permission to enter her home.  


//Oh my. How many are there? Do I have enough food to feed them all? Are there enough blankets and floorspace and...//   


She patted her husband gently on the back. "Honey, Cloud and his...friends are here."   


"I know," he replied in his usual gruff fashion, squeezing her tightly before releasing her and turning to face the door. One arm stayed draped around her shoulders, a damp but familiar weight that Shera took great comfort in.   


"Get in here, kid," he urged Cloud. "No use standin' out there in the damn rain."   


Cloud nodded and moved quickly into the room, trailing more puddles of water in with him. Shera might have taken a brief moment to be vaguely upset about the condition of her floor, if she had not glimpsed Reno of the Turks striding in right behind Cloud. Employees of the old Shinra Company had visited Rocket Town many times before, each time bringing nothing but pain, anger, and sometimes bloodshed. The Turks she was particularly leery of, and with good reason, too.   


Though, right now, she had to admit that Reno didn't look particularly threatening. His signature blue jacket was missing, revealing a white dress shirt soaked through and through with rain. A ring of dark bruises encircled his pale throat, and his features were arranged into a countenance that leaned more towards "tired and weary" than "murderous and menacing."   


His aquamarine eyes met hers, and Shera gave him a faint smile. He acknowledged her gesture of greeting with a curt nod as he crossed the threshold, and Shera saw for the first time that Reno's left hand was wrapped around the chain of a pair of handcuffs.   


The unlucky recipient of those handcuffs' binding embrace was a slender man dressed entirely in black. Black leather jacket over black turtleneck. Black jeans tucked into back combat boots. All the darkness contrasted sharply with skin the color of a pristine lab coat and hair a shade of blonde so pale it almost appeared white. Wet strands hung into his eyes, which, as he shifted his attention to her, were a deep emerald green that struck a familiar cord in her memory. He was eerily beautiful.   


Shera swallowed hard. What was going on? She knew AVALANCHE and the Turks were desperately trying to locate the missing Reeve, but was this...a prisoner?   


"Where do you want this guy?" Reno asked Cid, and from the way he uttered the words 'this guy,' Shera could tell Reno didn't much like the green-eyed man.   


Cid frowned and scratched his head thoughtfully with his free hand. "Eh...there's a radiator in the living room. Cuff him to that."   


Shera glanced questioningly at strange, leather-clad man. He stared intensely back at her for a second before his gaze shifted to Cid. "Your greatest fear," he stated.   


Cid's true blue eyes didn't waver as he tightened his grip on Shera's shoulders. "Yeah, my greatest fear."   


An odd smile curved the man's mouth, and Shera once again found herself the focus of those unnerving eyes. "Have you broken your glasses lately?" he asked.   


Shera blinked, instinctively raising one hand to adjust the objects in question. "No, not lately."   


"You cut yourself?"   


"N-No."   


"Blood on the floor?"   


"No."   


"Okay, enough of your shit," Reno announced, dragging the strange man off in the direction of the living room.   


Shera's eyes nervously tracked their progression before returning her attention to the suddenly overcrowded kitchen. There seemed to be bodies packed into every available crevice, and as Shera watched, the large form of Barret Wallace shuffled carefully through the doorway, carrying somebody in his strong arms. That somebody was wrapped in what was probably Reno's blue jacket, but a long fall of chocolate brown hair dangled nearly the floor, those dark tresses clearly proclaiming their owner's identity.   


"Tifa!" Shera gasped. "What happened to her?"   


"She's badly injured," Cloud said. "Do you have a place where we can put her?"   


"The guest bedroom," Shera replied instantly, grimly noting the scraped and bloody condition of Tifa's legs. "There are antiseptics and medicines in the hallway bathroom."   


Cloud thanked her, and gestured for Barret to follow him. The big man obeyed him without a word, looking just as battle-weary as the others.   


"Cid, what's going on?" she asked worriedly, looking up into her husband's face. "What happened to Tifa? And what about that man with the green eyes? What was—"   


He silenced her with a gloved finger over her lips. "I'll tell ya later," he said.   


Shera looked at him dubiously.   


That earned her a smile. "I promise, woman." He kissed her gently. "Can you go help with Tifa? I'll take care of the rest of these knuckleheads."   


Part of her wanted to insist, but all she did was smile gently and nod. If Cid said everything would be alright, she trusted him.   


** ** ** ** **   


Montana sprawled languidly in the creaky wooden chair and watched Jezebel rebuild her face, piece by painstaking piece. He'd been her partner (or the closest thing Jezebel could *have* to a partner) for a little more than three years now, and he had only seen her perform such a recovery feat once before. He found the whole process vaguely disgusting, watching the muscles of her face twisting and pulsating as they regenerated and reshaped themselves. After the red and pink muscles were done, her pale skin reappeared in patches, thin and flimsy as tissue paper, but still present in deference to Jezebel's inhuman regenerative abilities.   


"I think I'm gonna barf," Montana grumbled, resting his cheek against his closed fist as he braced his elbow on the chair's arm. "I've seen you do this before, but I don't remember it being *this* grotesque."   


~Grotesque?~ Jezebel's harsh laughter rang in his mind. ~Picking up new vocabulary, I see.~   


"Always," Montana said through gritted teeth. "By the way, do me a favor and rebuild your mouth and throat so you can stop speaking through telepathy. It creeps the shit out of me."   


As if the raw, meaty mass of Jezebel's face wasn't disgusting enough, she had the audacity to spread her lipless mouth in a grin that exposed all of her newly rebuilt teeth, shining and white against the burnt flesh and exposed muscles.   


Montana made a revolted sound and turned his dark green eyes up towards the single light bulb swinging from its chain on the ceiling. But his acute hearing could still pick up the fleshy sounds of Jezebel's facial reconstruction, and thus, he was actually relieved when he felt a spark of dark, familiar energy flare in the shadows of the room.   


"Mr. High Priest," Montana said in a sing-song voice, still staring up at the light bulb. "You're late. I expected you much earlier."   


High Priest Ajax (or rather, High Priest Ajax's spiritual projection, for Montana knew that by sacred duty, High Priests were never allowed to leave the subterranean tunnels) stepped out of the shadows and stood in the light offered by the lonely bulb, a smile on his face, as per usual. "As you know, Montana, things are still a bit hectic within the faction. As such, I was not informed of Jezebel's and your failure to recapture Titus and dispose of AVALANCHE until a little while ago."   


Montana didn't answer, biting back his anger as he thought of the woman Tifa Lockheart and how she had managed to survive his attack. Obstinate bitch.   


Ajax's hologram looked about the room with mock-curiosity. "What is this place?"   


~Safe house~ Jezebel's mental voice replied.   


Montana snorted. "Safe *shithole* is more like it. Serves me right for letting a woman without a face guide me to shelter."   


Ajax's soulless blue eyes drifted towards where Jezebel sat against the wall opposite Montana, her back ramrod straight and her hands folded neatly in her lap, as if she were lazing about idly instead of concentrating on growing herself a new pair of eyes, among other things.   


"Jezebel," Ajax said cheerfully. "You're not looking too good."   


~Of course I'm not. I need absolute concentration, High Priest, so if you do not have any pressing business, then I'm politely asking that you leave us.~   


"I'll be happy to oblige you...as soon as I deliver additional orders from the Master."   


Montana heaved a weary sigh and ran his fingers through his mass of messy brown hair. "Figures he'd give us more shit to deal with."   


Ajax ignored this in the same sanguine fashion which he ignored all things he didn't wish to hear. Ever the belligerent one, Montana lazily lifted one of his bare feet and thrust it through Ajax's projection, swiping his leg around so that it looked like he was kicking right through the High Priest's chest. Ajax watched with a happy, empty expression on his face, unfazed as Montana wiggled his toes right under his short nose.   


"Well," the martial artist grumped. "Aren't you going to tell us our orders?" He stuck his foot through Ajax's face.   


"I was hoping you'd ask," the High Priest replied undauntedly. "In addition to leaving Yuffie Kisaragi unharmed, the Master also demands that Cloud Strife and his sword, the Ultima Weapon, not be tarnished in any way, shape, or form."   


Montana bolted upright in his chair, feet falling back to the dirty cement floor. "He wants us to leave Cloud Strife ALIVE?! Those sound like the kind of orders YOU'D give, you masochistic bastard. You're freakin' insane!"   


Ajax just smiled.   


Jezebel spoke up in a displeased tone. ~High Priest, Strife is their leader. If we can't eliminate him in SOME way, our chances of beating AVALANCHE are greatly reduced. He keeps the entire team tied together.~   


The blue-eyed man shrugged his narrow shoulders. "So capture him, but allow me to remind you that AVALANCHE is not comprised of weaklings. If Strife falls or is captured, there are several who will rise up to take his place. Reno of the Turks is one. Cid Highwind is another."   


~Your point being?~   


"Whether or not you capture him is entirely up to you. The Master only demands that Cloud Strife and Yuffie Kisaragi are left alive and well, and Titus is brought back to the faction."   


"I thought he wanted us to dispose of Titus?" Montana grumbled.   


"Change of plans," Ajax explained.   


"There's ALWAYS a change of plans," the martial artist snapped. "Titus is gonna be a pain in the ass if we leave him alive."   


"Well, you two will just have to deal with that, now, won't you? Good luck. I hope you don't die." With a final smile, the projection of the High Priest winked out of view, leaving nothing in its wake but shadows and dust. The dark-edged presence that the High Priest always carried with him dispersed like dust in the wind.   


Montana glared at the place Ajax's projection had occupied. "Man, I really can't stand that little shit. Even Titus was more decorous than he is."   


Jezebel hesitated before saying quietly, ~You'd best hurry and kill that Lockheart woman, Montana.~   


The man's green eyes widened fractionally, and a smug grin came to his lips. "What's this? Is the great Jezebel actually admitting that she's going to have trouble carrying out the Master's bidding all on her own?"   


Jezebel's gloved hands tightened in her lap, and when she spoke next, her mind voice was cold, like icy fingers prodding at Montana's brain. ~We have to leave Strife, Kisaragi, and Titus alive. That's just asking for trouble. If we were at LEAST able to kill Strife, there would be a brief moment of pandemonium before a new leader rose to take his place. Now, we won't even have that advantage. And if things like THIS~ she gestured to the ruin that had once been her face ~happen every time I fight AVALANCHE, then yes, Montana, as much as I loathe to admit it, I'm going to need your help.~   


Montana was too stunned to reply. Jezebel actually admitting that she needed his help was just...scary.   


** ** ** ** **   


Tifa fell to the ground with another bruise on her leg and a busted lip as an added bonus. Her hair had long since extricated itself from its restraining hairtie, and now it tumbled forward, the strands clinging to her sweat-soaked arms and shoulders. She spat blood into the unforgiving dirt and blinked back tears of frustration. She was never going to get it right! Why did she even *need* to work on such a tactic?   


Zangan's firm but gentle voice drifted from above as his large shadow fell over her crumpled figure. "Get up, Tifa. You need to learn this."   


To her humiliation, Tifa found herself ready to cry. "No," she said through a tight throat. "No more."   


"Yes, more," Zangan said, voice sounding strange and echoing in the well of her memories. "If I don't break you of this habit now, it will end up killing you later on. Now, get up! Or are you giving up already?"   


Tifa shut her eyes tightly, small, silvery teardrops welling at the corners of her eyes and rolling down her face. "No," she whispered to the backs of her eyelids. "I can't give up..."   


"Damn right you can't," a young, masculine voice mocked her.   


Gasping, Tifa whirled around, her burgundy eyes widening when she saw not her beloved instructor but Hiei Montana looming over her, hands in the pockets of his baggy white pants and an infuriating smirk on his handsome face. Behind him, the horrific visage of Nibelheim being consumed by hungry flames blazed on the fabric of the dream, every bit as real as it had been that terrible day during her adolescence. Heat buffeted her skin like the rough caress of an overeager Zephyr, and smoke mercilessly seared the tender lining of her throat. Directly in front of her, the flames that had destroyed her hometown danced in the depths of Montana's dark green eyes, mocking her as they undulated in their world-devouring waltz.   


Montana smiled, his teeth yellow and red in the firelight. "Go ahead and surrender yourself to me. Give up so I can claim the lives of your friends."   


"Never!" Tifa screamed at him.   


The young man cocked his head to the side, spiky brown hair ruffled by an unseen breeze. "Out, out, brief candle," he quoted in a strangely intimate voice, one strong, murderous hand extricating itself from his pocket and reaching towards her with callused fingers. Tifa scrambled away from that touch, knowing that he meant to snuff her out, extinguish her life like--   


"Tifa..."   


--the brief candle he--   


"Wake up, Tifa!"   


--believed her to be. Full--   


Small, strong hands clasped her shoulders.   


--of sound and fury--   


"Tifa!"   


--signifying--   


Yuffie's voice rang from the air above her. "Tifa, please, answer me!"   


"...nothing," the woman whispered, shocked at the sound of her own voice issuing from her parched throat.   


Though the darkness behind her closed eyelids remained whole, she sensed someone moving above her, felt a wave of gentle human warmth pulsing nearby. "Tifa, are you alright?" Yuffie asked worriedly, tentatively squeezing her friend's bare shoulders.   


"I'm fine," Tifa tried to say, but all that came out was a dry wheeze. Her throat felt scorched and raw, just like the rest of her. She tried to summon strength to open her eyes, but her entreaties went unanswered. She was weak, slack-limbed, frail, and she hated it. A cough fought its way out of her chest and though she tried to contain it, a painful hacking fit soon wracked her battered body, making her mostly bare flesh brush against the sheets that covered her. Agony exploded on her stomach, and recent memories of her defeat by Montana came fast and furious, just like their nightmarish predecessor.   


Tifa suddenly felt a slender arm slide behind her to cradle her head, lifting her a little ways off the bed. Something blissfully cool came into the contact with her lips.   


"It's water," Yuffie said. "Drink, please."   


It took an outrageous amount of effort just for Tifa to open her mouth and force her uncooperative throat to permit some of the cool liquid to course down its length. Much ended up dribbling down her chin and cheeks, which Yuffie quickly mopped up. Tifa cracked her eyes open a bit, and the world around her came to life in a blur of colors thrown together haphazardly. Pain lanced through her head at the intrusion, but she doggedly ignored it and instead focused her efforts on deciphering the Yuffie-shaped blur that hovered over her.   


The young woman's face swam into view as she was taking the glass away from Tifa's lips. "Are you okay?" she asked, brow creased with worry. "Can you see me?"   


"Yes," Tifa whispered, trying to smile for her friend, but her lips remained motionless.   


"We were really worried about you!" Yuffie confessed, tucking some of her dark brown hair behind her ear, the sleeves of her oversized white sweater nearly swallowing her small hands. "We used a Cure on all your scrapes, but that burn..."   


Tifa felt her hands tighten to fists in the sheets. "It's not going away?" she asked, feeling the first tickle of fear in her chest. She had just woken up. This was too much for her to handle so soon.   


She looked around the room as far as her stiff neck would permit, taking in the cheerful designs on the wallpaper and the homesewn quilt that covered her body.   


Yuffie followed her gaze. "We're at Cid and Shera's house in Rocket Town," she told Tifa, dipping her finger into the glass of water and dabbing some on the older woman's cracked lips.   


Tifa looked at her friend with questioning eyes.   


For a second, Yuffie just stared down at her blankly, then smiled wanly as she recognized the query burning in her friend's mind. "Everyone's fine, Tifa. We're all as safe and sound as we ever were. Cid's doing a lot better, too."   


Tifa closed her eyes briefly in relief, sending a silent prayer of thanks to the Planet for protecting her comrades. Until now, she had never realized just how frightened she had been. When she had fallen unconscious after Montana's devastating fire attack, she hadn't know whether she would live or die. Right now, she was the only obstacle standing between her friends and the disparity of Montana's unnatural power. If she died...   


She didn't even want to think about that. It was too unbearable.   


Swallowing painfully, she made an attempt at speech. "The burn..." she rasped. "I want to...see it."   


The corners of Yuffie's small mouth turned down in a frown. "Tifa, I don't think you want to do that."   


"I do," Tifa insisted, looking at the younger woman with faintly desperate eyes. "Please, Yuffie. I need to...see what he did...to know this is real."   


Yuffie fidgeted and replied uncertainly, "I don't know. I'm afraid to move you. Maybe I should call Cloud."   


Tifa shifted, gritting her teeth against the dull aches that plagued her body. "I can sit up."   


"Wait!" Yuffie moved frantically to support her friend, placing an arm around Tifa's shoulders to bear the burden of the woman's weight. The sheet covering Tifa threatened to slide off, and for the first time, she noticed something.   


"Where are my clothes?" she asked, voice emerging a bit stronger.   


"We had to take them off," Yuffie explained. "They were all ripped up, anyways. And don't worry; we kicked all the guys out so they didn't get a free peek."   


Tifa smiled weakly. "Thanks."   


Taking a deep breath, she slowly released her grip on the sheet that hid her wound from view. The fabric crept slowly downwards, hesitating briefly on the swell of her breasts before sliding down her body, exposing her stomach.   


For a second, Tifa didn't recognize the mass of charred, peeling flesh that had overtaken the area her stomach had once inhabited. What had formerly been smooth, unbroken flesh was now a gross combination of burns that ranged from reddened skin that hurt no worse than sunburn to raw, glistening tissue left exposed by the traitorous, blackened flesh that surrounded it. There was no blood, but the sight of that burn on *her* body made her feel dizzy.   


"Montana's fire cauterized the wound," Yuffie was saying. "That's why there wasn't much blood."   


"Will it heal?" Tifa asked in a high, thin voice that she scarcely recognized as her own.   


"Yes," Yuffie said quickly.   


"Don't lie."   


She felt her friend shift uncomfortably behind her. "I'm not lying, Tifa. The wound will probably heal, but what we're really worried about is the damage done to your spirit."   


Tifa frowned, not comprehending. "My spirit?"   


"The Holy Fire of Ifrit injures both body and soul," Yuffie replied quietly. "That's why you feel so weak right now, and that's why Montana's power is so deadly. Bodily injuries can be mended with time and care, but spiritual injuries that damage your very aura..."   


"Are more dangerous," Tifa finished, voice slightly above a whisper.   


Yuffie nodded, loose strands of her hair brushing Tifa's shoulder. "Yes."   


A frowned marred Tifa's pretty face as she cast her eyes to the ceiling before carefully bringing the sheet up to cover her wound again. Her mind felt so heavy, so raw, as if she were bleeding from the inside out. Montana injured her body, tainted her spirit, haunted her dreams...and all that was fine. Sufficient strength and willpower on her part would dispel any opponent, just like Zangan had taught her. But Montana had also threatened her friends, and that was not fine.   


Yuffie hesitantly lowered Tifa back down onto the bed before worriedly peering down into her friend's pensive face. "You okay, Tif?" she asked.   


The woman looked at her with overbright eyes, a faint but firm smile curving her dry lips. "Don't worry, Yuffie," she said. "You can have faith in me. I can protect you all. I won't let Montana touch a single one of you."   


Yuffie swallowed hard against a throat that felt painfully tight, and telltale signs of tears swam in her gray eyes. "Okay, Tifa," she said with a forced smile as she patted her friend's hand. "But right now, you concentrate on getting better, okay? We've all been so worried about you."   


Tifa's burgundy eyes shone with gratitude. "I know, Yuffie. Thank you for watching over me."   


The young ninja felt her own optimism returning as she saw evidence of her friend's growing strength. "No problem!" she enthused, hopping to her feet. "You took care of me while I was incapacitated in Junon, and now I can watch over you. But right now, there's a certain Cloud Strife asleep outside the door, waiting for you to wake up. Is it alright if I send him in?"   


Tifa brought the sheets closer to her neck. "Yes, but warn him that I look like something the dog dragged in."   


Yuffie smiled. "I don't think he'll care."   


And Cloud most certainly did not care. His sleeping position slumped against the wall couldn't have provided him with a very refreshing sleep, but he nearly fell over his own two feet when Yuffie roused him to announce that Tifa was awake and talking. Yuffie watched him with wistful eyes as he entered Tifa's room with a bright smile already plastered on his face, belying the dark circles underneath his eyes.   


Sighing, Yuffie slowly began walking down the hall towards the kitchen, thinking that she could offer to help Shera do...something. She needed to keep herself busy, or she'd start thinking about stupid things like how she wanted to have someone who would look at her the way Cloud looked at Tifa. Someone who would think her beautiful in spite of her skinny legs, her small breasts, her loud mouth, her mischievous mind. Would her husband be like that? Though marriage was still a long way off for her, but she liked to think that out there, maybe not too far away, there was someone who would hold her, kiss her, hug her, love her...   


"Ah!" Yuffie whacked herself on the forehead to derail her uncharacteristic thoughts. What was the matter with her? She was too young to think about getting married and spending the rest of her life with someone, being a wife and having kids or whatnot. She didn't think herself the motherly type anyways. With her rotten luck, all her offspring would be good-for-nothing little twerps like...   


"Hey, brat!"   


"Like you!" Yuffie growled, whirling around angrily at the sound of an obnoxious voice behind her.   


Reno blinked in bewilderment. "Huh? What's your problem? And why aren't you watching over Tifa?"   


Yuffie indignantly placed her hands on her hips. "Don't you dare patronize me! And I'll have you know that Tifa's awake."   


Reno's eyes widened. "Is she alright?"   


"Yep, she's fine. But Cloud's in there right now so don't bother them."   


"Right, whatever," Reno replied, turning on heel and beginning to stride back down the hall to Tifa's room.   


Yuffie wanted to stamp her foot in frustration, but she contained the urge, barely. "Reno!" she whisper-screamed. "Get back here! Doesn't the word 'privacy' mean anything to you?"   


"No," the redhead called back. "Oh, and can you go help Valentine bring up the blankets and sleeping bags from the basement? I was supposed to do it, but now I'm busy. Thanks!" He flashed a mocking grin and continued on his merry way.   


If there had been a heavy object near at hand, Yuffie would have cheerfully clobbered the Turk with it. But she figured violence would disturb Tifa's rest, not that she was going to be able to get much anyways, with the way people kept bustling about. They'd just fought a grueling battle not even a day ago! Wasn't everyone supposed to be *tired* or something?   


//Apparently not// she answered herself, folding her arms across her chest and growling when they got tangled in the folds of her oversized sweater. She missed her old clothes. A lot. This borrowing thing just wasn't working out for her.   


"I guess it's off to the basement for me," she grumbled to no one in particular.   


A nondescript wooden door marked the entrance to Cid and Shera's basement/storage area/storm cellar. The best of all three worlds, Yuffie supposed. And it would be better if Cid wasn't such an avid collector of random crap. A glimpse into the pilot's garage suggested that the basement was going to be equally cluttered. Not something to look forward to.   


Since the door was already slightly ajar, it only took a minute amount of coaxing on Yuffie's part to open the door all the way. A rectangle of yellow light spilled from the hallway into the darkness of the basement. Unlike Kyra's basement in Junon, Cid's basement had a dirt floor and smelled like grease and machinery.   


Leaving the door wide open behind her, Yuffie carefully descended the short flight of stairs and squinted into the darkness. "Vinnie?" she called.   


"Right here," a deep voice answered from surprisingly nearby.   


Yuffie nearly jumped out of her sneakers. "Geez, Vinnie do you hav—"   


She cut her exclamation short when he realized she was speaking not to Vincent Valentine, but a wall of blankets and sleeping bags that seemed, for all purposes, to be hovering in midair with Vincent's jean-clad legs poking out the bottom.   


The absurdity of the image made her grin. "You behind there, Vinnie?" she joked.   


The stack of sleeping backs sashayed to the side, revealing Vincent's perpetually serious face, scarlet eyes staring calmly from behind strands of sloe-colored hair. The gunslinger still wore the same garments Cloud had lent him back in Junon, the pristine whiteness of the long-sleeved shirt nearly matching the pallor of the man's porcelain skin, which was visible through a few tears that adorned the cloth here and there. A hairtie maintained a shaky hold on the end of his loosely-tied ponytail, allowing shorter strands of silken but tangled-looking hair to slide onto Vincent's shoulders and brush the sides of his face.   


"What?" the man asked, and Yuffie realized that she'd been frowning thoughtfully.   


She shook her head. "Nothing. It's just that you always look the same, no matter what happens. Red eyes all calm. Hair falling everywhere."   


"Where's Reno?" Vincent asked abruptly.   


Trying to feel offended at the rather brusque change of subject, Yuffie replied resentfully, "Being a lazy bum."   


Vincent lifted a dark eyebrow and shifted the load of blankets in his arms to a slightly more comfortable position. "Are you going to help me with these, then?"   


"Yes!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Geez, don't get grumpy at me. It's not I came down here just to yak your ear off."   


A slight frown suggested that Vincent believed otherwise, but Yuffie pointedly ignored it. The man set his burden down on the dirt floor, upsetting some of the sleeping bags and blankets that were balanced precariously on top of the load. Yuffie moved to brace them before they could fall onto the nasty ground and get even grungier than they already looked. She started making herself a pile to carry up the stairs, watching Vincent out of the corner of her eye as he worked across from her. The top button of his shirt was undone, and as he leaned over, she could catch glimpses of a strong collarbone and the smooth lines of his pale chest.   


She hurriedly diverted her eyes, glad Vincent couldn't see the blush that heated her face like the glaring noonday sun. She could never recall being more aware of Vincent as a man than she was now. Must be something in the air...   


"Hey, Vinnie?" she asked after a few moments of silence save for the rustling of sleeping bags.   


"Yes, Yuffie?" he replied, trying to stack a blanket onto his pile and frowning as it threatened to plummet back to the ground.   


Yuffie absently wrung her hands in a threadbare cotton blanket. "Do you think we're going to find Reeve? I mean, honestly, do you think so?"   


"Well, I guess that all depends on you," Vincent stated candidly, without a single glance in her direction. He could have been talking about the price of tea in Wutai for all the emotion his voice betrayed.   


Yuffie froze. "What?"   


Vincent's blood-colored eyes suddenly pinned her with a hard stare. "You and Titus, actually."   


"What's that supposed to mean?" the young woman demanded, her temper starting to flare at his enigmatic statements.   


"You seem to have made rather good friends with your former kidnapper. And apparently you trusted him enough to put all our lives in his hands when the Highwind was being attacked."   


Yuffie couldn't think of anything to say to that. She did trust Titus in a way that she couldn't explain to anyone else. He'd kidnapped her, left her to be tortured, maybe even killed Reeve. Why the hell would she be stupid enough to put her trust in such a person? Then again, intelligence had never been one of her strong points.   


Something dark and keen glittered in the depths of Vincent's eyes, a single fleeting brush of malevolence in crimson seas that never showed the slightest hint of waves. "Why do you have so much faith in him, Yuffie?"   


"I...don't know," she muttered truthfully. She suddenly felt that she couldn't lie to Vincent even if she wanted to. That kind of pissed her off. It had taken her years to perfect the art of lying to a fine degree, all to be torn down by one man.   


"I think you're hiding something," Vincent said.   


Yuffie glared at him, the hurtful accusation making her voice harsh. "Who, me?"   


"Yes, you."   


"Well, I have no idea what you're talking about, Vincent!" she snapped, snatching an armful of sleepwear from her stack. The other blankets immediately keeled over out of upset balance, dirtying themselves on the floor.   


Huffily, Yuffie lurched over them, nearly falling in the process, and was about to make a grand, angry exit when Vincent suddenly grabbed her arm, fingers finding no obstacle in the billowing folds of her sweater.   


"This secret of yours had better not harm AVALANCHE in any way, Yuffie," he said flatly.   


Her heart was suddenly in her throat, Vincent's hand burning hot even though a layer of heavy cloth separated their skin. "Are you THREATENING me?" she demanded, barely managing to keep the squeak out of her voice.   


He frowned and released her arm. "...Hardly."   


"Hardly??" she echoed, upset. "Vincent, I would never hurt AVALANCHE. You know that!"   


Scarlet eyes narrowed fractionally before once again averting themselves to attend to the task of arranging the blankets in a stable position. "I know. But still, I worry."   


"About *what*?" Yuffie asked, feeling distressed by Vincent's lack of faith in her. "About me betraying you guys? I mean, sure I stole you guy's materia a year ago and left you stranded in Thunder Valley with all those nasty lightning birds and poisonous bugs, but it wasn't like I *wanted* to! It was all—"   


"For the good of Wutai," Vincent finished. "I heard this story, Yuffie, remember? Right before you dropped that cage on Barret and me."   


"Cloud was SO the one that pulled the lever!"   


Vincent looked at her, dark eyebrow quirked so that it nearly disappeared underneath the crimson line of his remaining bandana. "Right," was all he said before lifting the entire pile of sleeping bags and blankets into his arms.   


The gunslinger moved to ascend the stairs, but Yuffie stepped in his way. "Please tell me you trust me, Vincent," she suddenly blurted, her brow unwittingly creased in distress.   


He eyed her a long moment before maneuvering around her body. "I don't like you hiding things from me, Yuffie," he said, boots echoing hollowly as he went up the stairs.   


She must have stared into the musty darkness of the cellar for a good thirty seconds, contemplating the weight of Vincent's words. Had he really said, "lying to *me*"? Not lying to Cloud, or to Tifa, or to AVALANCHE in general, but to *him* in particular.   


//Implying that he and I share a special relationship?// she wondered, gathering the blankets close to her chest as if the dusty cloth would muffle the sound of her heartbeat throbbing in her ears. //Is he aware of me like I am of him? Like...no, what am I thinking! He's just tired so he's saying weird things. He probably hasn't slept in a while. Yeah! Silly me//   


Shaking her head in wistful amusement at her own youthful idiocy, Yuffie hurriedly scaled the stairs with her mini-pile of blankets. She'd probably have to make a gazillion trips back and forth from the cellar. Joy.   


The air in the hallway was like a fresh breath of spring after the yucky smell of the cellar, and Yuffie breathed it in greedily. Then, she stopped. Looked up and down the hall. Nobody. Was she alone?   


No, that was just her being silly again! She could hear the TV blaring in the living room. The smell of cooking food wafted from the direction of the kitchen, making her stomach rumble hungrily. A loud snore erupted from a guest bedroom a little ways down the hall. No way was she alone.   


Then she found the source of her unrest. In front of her, a set of cheery curtains half-masked a window unstreaked by rain. Outside, she saw the dark sky rolling endlessly on, but for once, the air was utterly devoid of raindrops. No pitter-pattering on the roof, either.   


She took that as a bad sign.   


//Calm// Yuffie thought grimly. //It's way too calm.//   


~owari Ch. 35   


  


_A/N: I know everyone wanted Vincent/Yuffie stuff, and I know this was more angst and tension than the people wanted, but I figured a confrontation was inevitable, seeing that Vincent knows more about what Yuffie's going through than any other member of AVALANCHE. Not to mention that Titus is still pretty high up on Vincent's doo-doo list. ^_^  
_

*the only thing they like more than seeing a hero succeed, is to see him fail...*  
*can't nobody hold me down. so fuck off.*


	38. Rocket Town Interlude

**Rocket Town Interlude**  
_"I am not overly fond of having other men scrutinize me while I bathe." Titus_   


Tifa tried not to flinch as Titus ran careful fingers over the hellish burn gracing her stomach. Since her tank tops had a bad tendency of rubbing against the burn, she had instead opted to borrow an oversized shirt from Cloud. Now, she had said shirt hiked up scandalously high, much to her embarrassment. Her cheeks burned slightly, as she was certain that everything from her navel to the bottoms of her breasts was exposed to a pretty much complete stranger. Normally, she would never have given anyone a "free peek" (as Reno called it), but the burn on her stomach was...something else.   


They had tried Cure spell after Cure spell until Tifa felt like running around Rocket Town a few hundred times to shake off the excess healing energy. Salves, magic, one of Shera's "home remedies," an evil-looking concoction of herbal paste Yuffie had whipped up, warmth, cold.   


Nothing seemed to work. Even after everyone's efforts, Tifa still felt as if some vampire had sucked the life-blood from her body. She supposed the constant weakness was due to her depleted supply of spirit energy, but still, she found it quite ridiculous when she had exert an outrageous amount of strength just to get up to go the bathroom. Lately, though, she had gotten to feeling a little better. Her bones and muscles still hummed with the remnants of great pain, and her legs wobbled a bit when she tried to walk, but Tifa had felt well enough to pose to her friends the idea of having Titus look at her battle wound.  


As expected, the normal amount of frowns and periods of deep contemplation ensued, especially on the parts of Cloud and Reno, both of whom seemed to have a strong dislike for the Running Man. She was forced to listen to the typical "you can't trust him, he's the enemy" talk. Yuffie, on the other hand, had vouched for Titus' reliability and urged the others to let him take a look at Tifa's burn. In the end, a combined trio of the heartfelt Yuffie, the ever-logical Red XIII, and the normally silent Rude, had managed to convince Cloud and Reno to back down.   


No one else had complained, which Tifa found odd, but she supposed their little tussle with Jezebel and Montana had lifted Titus onto higher ground in the eyes of AVALANCHE. Tifa had engaged herself in a running deathmatch with a martial arts master to save Titus' life, and in turn, their supposed "enemy" had returned the favor by breaking Jezebel's perilous hold over the Highwind. It was no big secret that if not for Titus' intervention, they would have most likely been dead by now.  


Which brought Tifa to the present moment, kneeling in front of Titus and biting back pain and embarrassment as his fingers prodded gently at her burnt flesh. Red XIII crouched in the corner with his one good eye fixed on the duo, searching for any indication of foul play on Titus' part. An equally vigilant Rude hovered in the doorway. He had dutifully looked away when Tifa lifted her shirt, but he still loomed over them with his intimidating presence.  


"Ouch," Tifa murmured when Titus poked a particularly harmful spot. He still had handcuffs around his wrists.  


His green eyes cut upwards, and Tifa met them instinctively. "So," she said. "What's the verdict?"  


"The burn is superficial," Titus replied. "But since it was inflicted by the Holy Fire of Ifrit, it can't be cured by materia or human remedies. Your body will heal it in time."   


"How long will this healing take?"   


"That depends on the condition of your mind and spirit," Titus said matter-of-factly, leaning closer to examine a fluid-filled blister on Tifa's skin. "Cetra curative magic would be the only outside force that could heal this burn in such a short period of time."   


Tifa frowned. "But I thought the knowledge of the Ancients was contained within the materia?"   


Titus nodded, some of his white-blonde hair flopping into his eyes. "It is."   


"But if that's true, then shouldn't we be able to use a Full Cure and heal the burn?"   


Titus finished probing the wound and sat back against the wall. Tifa lowered her shirt gratefully and sat on her heels so that she was at eye level with the green-eyed man. The burn on her stomach protested her movements, but she ignored its cries with practiced ease.   


"Though the restorative magic contained in the Restore, Heal, and Full Cure materias *did* come from the Cetra's knowledge," Titus explained, "the magic can never heal that burn so long as the materia is wielded by humans. If the magic channels through an impure vessel, it becomes useless on a wound inflicted by Holy power."   


"Impure vessels," Tifa murmured to herself, burgundy eyes misted with dark contemplation. Titus didn't say anything, instead opting to leave the woman to her own thoughts until she suddenly stirred and looked him in the face again.   


"What do you know about Montana?" she asked in a soft, hushed voice, as if even speaking the name would suddenly bring the Shido no Hi Ryu master down on them in all his flaming glory, spitting fire from his eyes and hands in blind fury. The image of Montana standing in front of the backdrop of her burning hometown still blazed in her mind with painful clarity, and Tifa resisted the urge to shudder.   


Titus looked at her like he knew exactly what she was envisioning. "Do you fear Montana?"   


"Of course. I'd be foolish not to."   


He nodded. "I'll admit that Montana is to be feared, to a certain extent. His powers are formidable, and his command of them is masterful for one so young, but most of the time he acts with the recklessness of a spoiled child."   


"Is he part of this...faction that Yuffie talks about?"   


Titus frowned, and for a moment Tifa feared he was going to clam up again. Already he had spoken more than she thought he would.   


But he continued. "Yes, and no. Montana is a bounty hunter for the faction, but that's all he is. Nothing else binds him to the faction but his own personal choice to remain in the Master's service. It makes Montana unique amongst all the other loyal followers. He's somewhat of a wild card, you might say."   


"I'm...not quite sure I understand," Tifa said hesitantly. "Why is Montana not bound to the faction?"   


"Montana's soul already belongs to one god," Titus replied darkly. "He cannot pledge his allegiance to another."   


His words sent a chill down Tifa's spine. "I know Montana serves Fire God Ifrit, but what's this other god you speak of?"   


"No one you need to know of," Titus responded smoothly, idly running a gloved finger along the chain of his handcuffs. The others had reluctantly freed him from the radiator in order to give him full use of his hands, but it would take more than one life-saving feat on Titus' part to prove he was loyal enough to have his hands permanently unfettered.   


Questions still burned inside Tifa, demanding voice. "But do you mean that you were bound to the faction as well? Yuffie called you 'Mr. High Priest' back in Junon. But then Jezebel called Ajax the High Priest. And why would you kidnap Reeve?"   


"I thought you wanted to hear about Montana," Titus said neutrally, eyes tracing the motion of his finger on the gleaming metal chain. Left. Right. Left.   


Tifa hands clenched in the loose pair of gym shorts she wore. "I did, but..."   


"Then ask me about him," Titus interrupted flatly. "I will answer you nothing else."   


She refrained from protesting his stubbornness. "Fine. Have you ever fought Montana before?"   


"Yes, a year ago. That scar on his face is from a wound I inflicted on him."   


"And...how did you beat him?" She felt almost guilty for asking the question, like she was demanding the answers for a test.   


Titus lifted his cuffed hands, experimentally flexing his fingers as if testing the strength in them. The leather gloves creaked as the flesh underneath moved, and the strange orbs embedded in the backs of his hands flashed underneath the lights. "I was always several levels above Montana in terms of power, experience, and skill. He will never beat me."   


He sounded so sure of himself. Not proud, just certain. "How does one go about becoming a Shido no Hi Ryu master?"   


He lowered his hands and shrugged. "You'd probably be better off asking that question of a historian that specializes in Wutainese history. I do know that you have to endure an arduous training underneath a present Master. I then assume that somehow the student presents their 'perfected' soul to the Fire God, and if they are deemed worthy, Ifrit gives his blessing and instills his essence into them, thus rewarding them with Master status." His eyes locked onto hers. "Are you thinking of learning the Shido no Hi Ryu?"   


Tifa frowned. "Well, the thought did cross my mind, but that's hardly possible, isn't it? If my history and timeline are accurate, there hasn't been a Dawn's Fire Master in such a long time that everyone believed the style had died out. Montana is the first Master in a long time, and it's not exactly like I could train under him."   


Titus' voice was sharp, almost reprimanding. "And you think learning Montana's style will automatically put you on his level?"   


Tifa looked at him in surprise. Apathy, she had expected. Disapproval, she had not.   


Titus plunged on relentlessly, "You could spend your entire life learning the Shido no Hi Ryu and perfect every move there is to know, but every time you challenged Montana to a fight, you would lose. The flaw isn't in the fighting style, but in the one who executes it."   


She blinked. "Me?"   


"Yes. You are the only one responsible for your defeat."   


Tifa could feel the truth in his words. She had lost to Montana not because his style was superior to hers, or because he was the more experienced fighter, but because she was flawed somehow. Montana wasn't.   


"All his life, Montana has known nothing but the heat of battle," Titus said. "He conceived a hatred for life at a very young age, but later overcame it. Most human beings are blinded by love, fear, or hatred. If Montana feels such an emotion, he regulates it to the degree that it does not affect his fighting. The only petty emotion Montana is guilty of is the desire for revenge, as his pursuit of me clearly shows. But unless you can find a way to exploit that emotion in him..."   


His voice trailed off, and Tifa did not prod him to continue. She had heard all she needed, and Titus knew it.   


Behind her, Red XIII snorted and rose to his feet, the beads in his mane clicking together to join the muted clack of his claws on the hardwood floor as he walked over to stand in front of Titus. "Mr. Titus, why do you share information with Tifa now? Why not back in Junon when we first posed these questions to you?"   


Titus glanced at Red disdainfully. "I hardly thought the behavior and questioning methods you all used in Junon deserved any cooperation on my part."   


Tifa rose to her feet so abruptly that Red instinctively moved aside to avoid being stepped on. He glanced up to see her pretty face set in hard, determined lines as she glared down at Titus, almost as if the man had slighted her in some fashion. "I *will* beat Montana," she announced emphatically, and stalked out of the room. Rude pressed himself against the doorway to allow her past him, and though his eyes were hidden behind the dark lenses of his sunglasses, Red could sense the Turk's attention follow the brown-haired woman as she disappeared into the kitchen.   


Red gave Titus a hard look. "How do you expect Tifa to fight if you cripple her confidence?"   


"I didn't cripple her confidence," Titus countered. "She's flawed, and now she knows it."   


"A pretty phrase for something that yields the same result," Rude said flatly. "And if I didn't know you were only trying to help Tifa, I would be particularly displeased with you right now."   


Titus' eyes were decidedly aloof as he gave Rude a sideways glance, but he didn't reply to the Turk's comment.   


Red allowed an uneasy silence to persist before he recalled a particular subject he needed to address. "Are you in need of a bath?" he asked Titus. "Your female friend has already taken hers."   


"If I do say I want a bath, someone will have to keep an eye on me, won't they?"   


"Unfortunately, yes."   


"Then I will forgo one. I am not overly fond of having other men scrutinize me while I bathe."   


"Very well, then," Red replied disinterestedly. He didn't know for long Titus had gone without bathing, and Red had traveled often enough with his human companions to know that they tended to amass a considerable stench of they did not wash their bodies fairly regularly. But Titus did not smell at all. Sure, he carried the scents of leather, rain, and mud on his body, but as for any type of personal, distinctive scent, he had none. In fact, if not for the slow, steady beat of Titus' heart, or the sound of his breath passing in and out of his lungs, Red could have closed his eye, and Titus would have vanished completely from his senses.   


It was not a comforting thought.   


** ** ** ** **  


_Mirrors on the ceiling  
Pink champagne on ice  
And she said  
We are all just prisoners here  
Of our own device  
And in the master's chambers  
They gathered for the feast  
They stab it with their steely knives  
But they just can't kill the beast   
_

"Hotel California"  
The Eagles  


For some, bathing was a way of cleansing the spirit. Washing away worries and problems along with dirt and grime. So long as the steady stream of water beat down on the shoulders, the bather was granted a temporary respite from the toils of life.   


Vincent admitted that he found that concept rather attractive, but also supremely idiotic. For him, bathing was a priority, and sometimes not a very important one.   


But now he found himself wishing he could believe the uplifting words of those who idealized the act of bathing. But the water sluicing along the curve of his back and down the length of his legs was just water, and always would be. Pity in that.   


Placing one hand against the wall in front of him, he lowered his head to permit the water expelled from the shower head to pummel the back of his head, the warm liquid coursing down between his shoulder blades. It took a second or two for the soothing dampness to thread its way through the thick tresses, but within a minute, nearly all of his waist-length, raven-black hair was saturated, water streaming steadily from the ends of the strands.   


Vincent watched the water swirl down the drain with tired, misted crimson eyes. His bones and muscles ached from the recent hardships, but that was nothing new to him. Now, the weariness that seemed to drug his brain, that was a true rarity. Come to think of it, he actually felt a little...ill.   


//Idiot// he chided himself. //You cannot get sick. Tired is what you are. You need sleep.//   


The spray of shower water had long since numbed the back of his scalp, and Vincent numbly raised his head and began the mechanical process of washing his hair and body with the nearby soaps. In a muted fashion, he noted that the movement of his limbs was sluggish, as if it took his body a few moments to respond after his brain had issued an order. His own body was rebelling against him. Go figure.   


Obligatory cleanliness finally achieved, instead of relinquishing the shower to the next person in line, Vincent instead stood underneath the needle-sharp spray of water, listening to its cadence of whispers fill the narrow shower stall. He could almost hear a voice...   


~"Please tell me you trust me, Vincent."~   


Yuffie again. Vincent was starting to think he'd never be able to escape her face, her voice. If he left AVALANCHE after they found Reeve – which he still fully intended to do – would he be able to forget her? Surely he would. The life of a wanderer was filled with many distractions, and Vincent was adept at repressing emotions better left untouched.   


Steam from the hot water had filled the confined space, and when Vincent inhaled the moist vapors, he had he sudden impression that he had taken in more water than air, like he was breathing underwater. Drowning.   


His skin suddenly turned cold, and the water became blisteringly hot against his chilled flesh. The world spun, and he instinctively lowered himself to the floor of the shower stall to avoid falling over. That was the last coherent decision his listless brain could make before chills and fever began to ride him again, just like they had the night after Yuffie's kidnapping.   


Darkness swallowed his mind, ripping his breath from his lungs. His consciousness unraveled at the ends before re-weaving itself into something demonic and malicious. Chaos' laughter rang through the hell like a cacophony of imps in their fiery pit, and it took every ounce of Vincent's will not to shudder violently at the sound. The word rippled around him in shades of dark crimson, as if he were immersed in an ocean of blood.   


_BLEED FOR ME,_ came the order from the dark.   


"No!" Vincent rebelled with everything he was worth. He could only manage that one word, that one thought.   


Chaos' will bore down on him, pushing Vincent across the scarlet waters, filling his nostrils with the reek of death, disease, and suffering. Figures writhed underneath the surface of the waters, an army of corpses trapped underneath the glistening surface, clawing for freedom with mangled hands and bloody fingers. Their mouths hung open in silent wails, but they had no voice. No, the only sound that rang through the stillness of the hell inside Vincent's mind was the weeping of a woman, no, several women. His heart froze in his chest as he realized he knew the owners of those cries. He had listened to them night after night...   


_SISTERS CRY FOR YOU. ANSWER THEM._   


Vincent clamped down on his own mind, trying to seal his memories away from the demon, but it was like fumbling for a key with slick, clumsy fingers. "Stay out of my mind, demon! I have no quarrel with you!"   


_SHOW YOU THE PIT._   


"The what?"   


_THE PIT._   


Vincent had no idea what Chaos meant by 'the pit,' but he knew it could be nothing good. And it was nothing he was in any state of mind to see. "Leave me in peace, Chaos. I have no desire to see your pit."   


The demon's fiery rage suddenly burned Vincent's mind like scalding water on tender, unprotected flesh. He braced himself against it best he could, but the fury slammed against him, drowned him in images as anger made the demon forget how to properly communicate with its host. Yuffie. She was everywhere. Her face, her eyes, her voice. Chaos had guided Vincent to her! And what thanks did the demon get in return? Chaos would punish Vincent for such an unjust exchange!!   


"I made no deal with you, demon! Return to the dark!" Vincent allowed every incantation he had ever learned as child to bubble up in his soul, flinging them desperately at the darkness with hopes to drive it back. Chaos found that highly amusing. Didn't Vincent know that if Chaos fell into Darkness, Vincent would follow? Humans. So silly.   


_DREAM FOR ME. PIT AND SISTERS. AND OF GIRL._   


Vincent started to say 'no,' but Chaos abruptly relinquished its hold on the man, leaving Vincent naked and shuddering on the floor of the shower, water streaming over him. Someone was pounding on the door.   


"Vincent! Did you fall in or what? Other people are waiting, too!" It was Cid.   


Bracing his claw on the edge of the tub, heedless of the small scratches the sharp digits left on the tile, Vincent shakily rose to his feet and shut off the water. Silence now, save for the lonely dripping of water from the showerhead and from Vincent's body. Darkness gnawed at the edges of his vision as his mind swirled with fever. He turned his head to the left, and it took his vision a few seconds to follow. Damn.   


Vincent wasn't sure if he'd be able to walk. He could call for Cid to come in and help him... But, no. He would not draw others into this.   


Vincent managed to pull aside the shower curtain and climb unsteadily out of the tub without slipping and killing himself. He was struggling to get his jeans to slide over his wet skin when Cid resumed his insistent demands that Vincent hurry his ass up. Studiously ignoring the man, Vincent had to pause twice in dressing as nausea and unconscious threatened to overtake him. Each time the sensations faded, but left a little more darkness in his vision. The world was beginning to look a little blurry, Vincent noted in a detached fashion.   


Leaving his jeans zipped by not buttoned, Vincent grabbed the same filthy white shirt he'd been wearing for the past couple of days and wretched the bathroom door open. Cool air buffeted his overheating skin, and his vision cleared long enough to glimpse Cid's annoyed expression frozen on his face like still-life painting, his hand raised, caught in the motion of knocking on the door. If Vincent looked at terrible as he felt, he could fully understand Cid's reaction.   


Vincent stumbled past him as quickly as possible. Cid might have called after him, but the gunman could not be sure. Sounds were slowly diminishing, being faint and insignificant.   


//Not here// he ordered his feverish mind. //You can't collapse here. That room. Go there. Go!//   


The door to the room was open, darkness still and silent within. Vincent gripped the threshold with human hand and half-tripped half-flung himself into the room. The air was cool here, and quiet. Placating. There were blurry forms stacked everywhere, clothes spilling out of various openings. Luggage. AVALANCHE had used this room as a makeshift storage closet, but by nightfall, some of them would most likely be sleeping in here.   


He slid down the wall, letting the texture of the well-worn wallpaper grind against his back. His wet hair clung to his skin like chilled fingers tracing patterns on his back. Vincent's eyelids were trying to shut on their own accord. //Hopefully// he thought. //Hopefully...this will have...passed...before anyone...sees...//   


He felt his body sway to the side, but he was unconscious before he hit the floor.   


** ** ** ** **   


Rude sighed and reached underneath the bottoms of his sunglasses to rub his burning eyes. As if everyone wasn't tired, injured, or in bad spirits, Reno had chosen the most impeccable time to vanish. No one had seen him for an hour, and though Rude knew how easy it was to sneak away from a large crowd, it bothered him that everyone allowed things like disappearing teammates to go unnoticed. With such lax observation skills, it was no small wonder that Yuffie and Reeve had both been kidnapped.   


The tall Turk strode purposefully into the living room. No Reno here either. But Red XIII was asleep on the couch, and someone had reattached Titus' handcuffs to the radiator. The man also looked to be asleep with his chin resting on his chest, but Rude wouldn't have bet a valuable item on it.   


After giving the Running Man a stern look, Rude's pale green eyes swept the room to where Cloud leaned against the windowsill, looking out at the town. His back was to the living room, but Rude was fairly certain the man had sensed his entrance.   


Rude walked over to the AVALANCHE leader, making sure he stayed within the range of Cloud's peripheral vision in the rare case the man did not know he was in the room. Pitching his voice low so as not to wake the room's other two occupants, Rude asked, "Cloud, have you seen Reno?"   


Cloud's spiky head nodded. "Yeah, he went into the town about an hour ago. Said he was going for a walk. You need him for something?"   


Rude was infinitely relieved that at least the leader of their ragtag team was keeping tabs on everyone. "No. Just wanted to know where he was."   


Cloud didn't reply, and Rude decided to take the silence as a dismissal when the blonde suddenly spoke, "She's been out there for a while now."   


Rude frowned at the cryptic phrase and stepped closer to the window, standing next to Cloud. The difference in their heights was quite obvious now, and a bit of a surprise to Rude. Cloud often had a way of carrying himself that made others forget his small size.   


Through the window's glass, Rude could see Tifa Lockheart seated on the top step of Cid's porch, facing out towards the town with her legs folded underneath her and her hands resting in her lap. He didn't have to see her face to know her eyes were probably closed. They were not needed for what she was trying to see.   


"Meditating," Rude commented, not quite able to prevent himself from admiring how her chocolate brown hair pooled on the wooden decking behind her.   


"Yeah," Cloud said, abruptly turning around and giving his back to the window. He leaned on the edge of the windowsill and folded his arms across his chest. "I want to talk to her, but I don't think anything I say will matter."   


"Why not?" //Why is he telling me this?//   


"I'm not a martial artist."   


"I didn't think you would need to be one," Rude replied levelly. //Just being you would be enough for her//   


Cloud sighed. "I'm like you, Rude. I learned almost all my principles from Shinra Inc. My friend Zax tried to teach me some of his own morals, but he died so suddenly…" Pain flashed briefly across Mako blue eyes before it was contained. "Tifa learned her fighting style from an honorable teacher. Try as I might, some part of me just can't understand what she's going through right now. Whatever it is, though, I think it goes beyond just meeting an opponent stronger than herself."   


"Titus said the flaw lies within her," Rude said, resisting the urge to glance over his shoulder at the man he spoke of.   


The corners of Cloud's mouth turned down in a contemplative frown.   


"She wagered her own life for our safety," Rude murmured, more to himself than to Cloud. The words sounded so noble, even falling from his mouth, in the deep voice that had kept repressed as he executed countless individuals who rarely deserved such a cruel fate at the hand of such a cruel man.   


"She's a good person," Cloud said, voice soft, the words needless. Rude knew just what kind of person Tifa Lockheart was. The kind that he could not have. The kind that would not be happy with him. No, Tifa's happiness stood not a foot away from his side, pained and brooding over her plight while she sat out there underneath a sunless sky, trying to look for a way to rid herself of her flaws, to become a better person than she already was.   


Rude wanted to say something about how he admired her, not just for her beauty or for her battle prowess, but for her heart. But the words died in his throat. He could not speak of such things. Not of her. And not to Cloud, who felt so much more for her than Rude ever would.   


At some moment in time, Cloud said that he was going for a walk, and that he would keep an eye out for Reno to make sure the Turk wasn't causing havoc of any sort. Rude heard him, but didn't reply. He stared for so long at Tifa's seated figure that his eyes burned from staying open too long. This would be the closest he would ever be to Tifa, and he wanted to remember her as she was, seated there in her oversized white shirt and gym shorts, meditating on her flawed soul.   


Rude was tired of trying. So tired.   


He suddenly became aware of the fatigue in his limbs, and just how exhausted he was. He would see if he could help Shera with anything, and then he would retire somewhere to rest.   


Rude turned his back to the window and strode away. Outside, the skies shifted restlessly, and the raindrops once again began to fall.   


** ** ** **   


Yuffie had never wanted a pair of pajamas so badly in her life. Pajamas would mean her activities were over and done with for the day. No more, "Yuffie, what are you just sitting around for? Do this" or "Yuffie, can you go get this from this place?" or "Go tell so and so to blah blah blah." She liked doing things for people, but this was getting ridiculous. No, scratch that. She liked the warm, fuzzy feeling she got from making people happy, and if she could just cut out the manual labor part, it would be a good deal.   


Barret had almost sent on her a third run to the grocery store for food supplies when the sudden return of the rain had foiled his scheme to turn her into a mindless slave good for nothing but running errands. Before the fatherly man could find yet another task for her, Yuffie had hightailed it out of the kitchen. Now, she had every intention of finding clothes that didn't smell like butt, putting them on, and seeking some place to sleep.   


She turned into the room where they had chucked all their luggage and nearly tripped over Vincent Valentine's bare feet.   


Of course, she didn't know it was Vincent at first. All she saw was a pair of pale feet and legs clad in damp denim before she realized "Hey, I just might fall over this weirdo's feet!" Her reflexes kicked in just in time to keep her from munching the floor, but the awkward maneuver sent her into a half-spin, and she had to sit down hard on someone's duffel bag to avoid losing her balance completely. The bag made a loud "poof!" noise as she squashed its contents. Oops. She hoped there was nothing breakable in there.   


She was in the right mind to screech at whichever idiot had been dumb enough to fall asleep in such a ridiculous position when she recognized the ghostly pallor of the "idiot's" skin and the fall of ebony tresses that pooled on the floor all around their owner, curling around each other like slumbering serpents.   


The yell that had been building in Yuffie's chest emerged as a pitiful squeak. //It's Vincent!//   


She took a second to take in Vincent's state of dress. Or rather, undress, as the man only wore a pair of denim jeans – that weren't even freakin' BUTTONED, for crying out loud – which, upon closer inspection, had damp spots on them as if he had hastily pulled them on while his skin was still wet. He lay on his side with his back pressed against the wall, hair obscuring his face. He had the same ratty white shirt he'd been wearing for the past couple of days clutched tightly in his metallic claw.   


Yuffie frowned. Normally, she'd be embarrassed about seeing, erm, so much of Vincent, but instead she found herself bothered. Why would he fall asleep in here? Did he hate being around other people THAT much? Well, come to think of it, she had seen Vincent do weirder things, like morph into boogeymonsters and whatnot. But still...why here, in a dark room with no blanket, no pillow, his jeans not buttoned, his shoes gone, his shirt still in his hand...   


Slowly, Yuffie rose off her makeshift seat, leaving a deep indentation in the duffel bag from her backside's untimely impact with it. She cautiously crouched a few inches away from Vincent's sprawled form. Yes, that was a good word for his position. Sprawled. And Vincent never sprawled on things. He never allowed himself such freedom. Always contained and reserved, was Vincent Valentine.   


//Should I try and wake him?// she wondered, drumming her fingers on her knees. Her last attempt at waking him hadn't worked so well. He had ended up lashing out at her from the abyss of sleep and scaring the crap out of her and then she had babbled her head off and then they had spent the night together and oh geez that sounded so bad even in her own head and she was babbling to *herself* now, which was really sad.   


//I should at least move some of his hair before he ends up sucking it up nose or something// she argued with herself, trying to ignore how that pale, pale skin and dark hair begged to be touched. Shadows shifted on the muscled lines of Vincent's stomach as he breathed. //What's the worst he could do?// she thought. //Wake up and yell at me? Or hit me? And that would hurt, especially if he does it with his claw. Ok, touching Vinnie while he's sleeping: bad idea. But...what did I come in here for?//   


"Pajamas," she announced aloud. Vincent didn't even stir at the sound of her voice. He was really out cold.   


Resolved to achieve her initial goal, Yuffie hopped quietly to her feet and marched across the room where her borrowed bag lay lonely and friendless underneath the window. She examined its contents, squinting to see in the darkness. No pajamas. Damn. Oh, but there was a really big shirt and sweat pants that looked to be a good fit. Score!   


//Wonder if Vinnie is cold? And he needs a new shirt. That one is dirty and full of holes already. And it probably smells bad, too. Vincent is weird enough as it is. No need for him to be stinky, too//   


She looked to her right and saw Cloud's duffel bag sitting most invitingly on the carpet, easily discernible from the others by the pretty glittery stickers Yuffie had considerately placed on the dark material in a bout of boredom. //Well, I'm sure Cloud won't mind// she decided, shamelessly opening the bag and digging through it.   


She returned to Vincent's side a few minutes later with a plain black shirt and dark jeans with annoying suspenders dangling off of them. She wasn't sure Vincent would go for the pants, but it was better than the near-rags he currently had on. She folded the garments with the same care that she folded her mother's old kimonos, and laid the pile of clothing near Vincent's lax fingers.   


Carefully not letting her eyes drift to the man, lest she be once again tempted to touch him, she whispered, "Sorry, I couldn't find a blanket. And I can't use the bedspread because everyone else's crap is on it."   


She thought about saying something more, but then she realized she was alone in a dark room, talking to a sleeping man who would remember nothing of what she said. Before she could get all sad over it, Yuffie gathered her nightclothes to her chest and left the room, giving Vincent's feet a wide berth. She hated that Vincent could make her chest tight when he wasn't even DOING anything besides lying there like a lump on a log.   


She passed by the window again on her way to wait in line for the bathroom. The calm outside had once again been replaced by heavy air and tumultuous skies. Rain streaked glass. The ocean stretching infinitely in so many directions, like Yuffie's mother's futon, which had seemed so large and roomy to Yuffie's tiny five-year-old body. She felt as if she could lay there for hours, soothed just as much by the calm blues and grays of the cloth as she was by the sounds of her mother bustling around the room, humming to herself as she once again readied herself for another day.   


A deep frown marred Yuffie's features, the expression mimicked by her dark grey eyes. Thinking of her mother made her think of Wutai. Her homeland. So close yet so far. More close than it was far, actually.   


An outrageous idea sparked in her mind, only to be frantically doused. She couldn't do that! Not now! What if her friends needed her?   


But...it wouldn't take long. She would just go for a little while. Skulk around Turtle's Paradise and listen to the drunken sailors. Gather some of her own clothes. Touch her mother's kimonos again. She wouldn't be gone long. Maybe not even a day. No one would even notice her absence.   


She hastily turned away from the window and tried to occupy her mind thinking of how she could argue her way to the front of the bathroom line, but she was painfully aware of the window at her back, the thunder rumbling in the distance like the gravelly cry of her Fatherland beckoning to her, calling her home...   


~tbc   


  


_a/n: Yes, Yuffie is having a love affair with that window.  
_

Next chapter is a Reno chapter. Yay!  


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	39. Parched Eyes

a/n: Well, here is the next chapter. It's a short one, but the next chapter is looking to be a doozy so things will probably even out.  
  
********************************************  
  
Sink to the Bottom With You  
  
Chapter 37: Parched Eyes  
  
"No need to gut-punch me so early in the goddamn conversation." Reno  
  
Too much time has passed   
  
to lament that we were once in love.   
  
The wind keeps blowing   
  
as I still can't heal the rift in my heart.   
  
Looking with one eye on the future   
  
while keeping the other on the past...   
  
If only I could sleep peacefully once more   
  
in the cradle of your love...  
  
Someone, cry for me with parched eyes.  
  
"Real Folk Blues"  
  
Ending theme of Cowboy Bebop  
  
Reno stood outside in the cool, damp night, drizzle lightly pelting the shoulders of his dark blue suit as he contemplated the roughly carved wooden letters hanging from a post outside the door. The Barnyard was supposedly one of the best bars in town, despite its simplistic appearance. Reno thought that all bars were the same. They all served alcohol, and they all had drunk, depressed people passed out in various shady corners. No difference at all.  
  
Shifting his weight from foot to foot, Reno sighed and drew his jacket closer around him, hunkering into its waterlogged layers and wishing he could light up a cigarette. After a day of being cooped up in Cid and Shera's house with nothing to do but mill about aimlessly and take trips to the garage and bathroom just to avoid getting shanghaied into manual labor, Reno had gone stir-crazy and, in desperate need for a change of scenery, had decided to poke around the sleepy town.  
  
And, of course, Reno found a bar. He always managed to locate them no matter what shadowy corner they were tucked away in, like a dirty secret meant to be hidden from prying eyes.  
  
Reno's eyes once again traced the letters proclaiming the name "Barnyard." For some reason, it felt wrong for him to drown his sorrows in alcohol when somewhere out there, his President was maybe dead or dying. Then, he realized that Reeve wouldn't want him to be miserable...because Reeve was just an annoyingly good, noble person like that. He didn't care only about himself. He cared about Midgar and the well-being of its people. He was the President that greedy Alexander Shinra could never be and that diseased Midgar had desperately needed since the beginning of its social decay.  
  
And now Reeve was gone, and Reno was starting to think they would never find him. What would happen to Neo-Shinra? They had left its operations temporarily in the hands of Reeve's few but very able-minded assistants, but they didn't have Reeve's do-gooder heart. Eventually, even they would be overwhelmed by the stress of a resurrecting a city that was already firmly ensconced in a grave with cemetery dirty scattered over it.  
  
But who else would be competent enough to take Reeve's place? Reno knew he couldn't, and neither could Rude or Elena. Turks were meant to hunker in the shadows, not stand boldly in the spotlight, where bloodstains were easier to see.  
  
As if Reno's mood already wasn't foul enough, the dark skies above suddenly let out a horrendous belch, and the misty drizzle evolved into a steady downpour. Cursing under his breath, the redhead strode the last few steps up to the Barnyard's door, pushing his way through the old-style saloon doors, letting them swing shut behind him with an ear-grinding squeak.  
  
A fine mist of second-hand smoke immediately flitted over to greet him, and Reno almost smiled. Bars. So dependable. He loved them. A few patrons glanced over at him, saw he wasn't female, and lost interest. Being the youngest, handsomest male customer at the moment merited him long, lingering looks from the few women in the bar, but for once, Reno was in no mood for their attentions.  
  
He made his way purposely over to the bar, seating himself between two bulky, glum-looking men. The bartender was a faceless creature with a gruff voice and stained apron as Reno asked for a beer. Truthfully, he wanted something stronger, but beer was cheap and lasted longer than the potent shots of hardcore liquor that he normally ordered when he intended to get smashed.  
  
But he didn't want to drink to the point where he was puking his guts out in an alley somewhere. He just wanted to forget.  
  
The beer seemed to materialize in front of him, and Reno wrapped his chapped hands around the bottle, the cold glass numbing his damp flesh. His knuckles shifted underneath his skin like the hideous shadow of the Midgar Zolom slithering below the surface of its marshy swamp.  
  
//Damn// he mused. //Looks like the hand of an effing skeleton. Don't think skeletons get hangnails, though//  
  
A deep swing of his beer yielded a bitter taste but no burn. Damn. He wanted a burn, coursing down his throat like a stream of acid, scalding his insides, fogging his brain. Sure, the beer would make him forget, but it would take a while.  
  
He wished he'd ordered something stronger.  
  
But shit, it was so hard to think. He could barely *function*, for Shiva's sake, much less *think*. That was what goddamn Strife was for. Let the leader make all the decisions. At this point, Reno was only good for two things: fighting, and nursing his old wounds. He was dead tired of the first, and he was starting to think his heart could not handle any more of the second.  
  
He'd been unable to avoid seeing Alette during the past couple of days. Cid's house was only so big. Reduced the number of places one could hide from an ex-wife who had murdered one's only daughter.   
  
Reno brought the dark glass of the beer bottle to his lips and titled his head backwards, swallowing steadily until he had completely drained the bottle. And oh, it burned. At last. His head lolled forward, and he settled his empty bottle on the bar counter with a resolute clink. The grain of the wooden bar in front of him danced and swirled like a kaleidoscope of browns and yellows. That was nice. Dance for me, baby.  
  
A pressure trembled loudly between his ears, and Reno realized the bar wasn't swimming for him. No, it was his eyes that were swimming with... He hurriedly pressed his arm to his eyes, the cold, wet material of his suit jacket meeting the drops of hot, salty liquid that fought to liberate themselves from the cage of his trembling eyelashes.  
  
Too many times had Reno sent prayers to the heavens, to the Planet, only to have them ignored and flung back at him to lie barren and unfulfilled at his feet. But now, he wanted to pray. But to whom? To a Planet the human race had defiled with their greed? To heavens that didn't give a flying shit about a no-good-for-nothing like him? To gods or goddesses who had long ago fallen from their thrones?  
  
No one cared. No one would listen. He could find a random woman, go home with her, release his bodily passions in her bed, but he knew his eyes would be closed during the entire encounter, and the woman beneath him would be wearing someone else's face.  
  
His heart seemed to quake his chest just like the fucking shameful tears dancing their pitiful waltz in his parched eyes, and he hunched his shoulders in a vain attempt to contain to horrible, burning ache that wanted to devour him alive. //Somebody, anybody, help me...//  
  
The sound of metal chinking against metal reached his ears, but it never occurred to him that the sound was a Crystal Bangle striking the end of a metal gauntlet until he sensed the bartender shuffle over to attend to someone who was evidently seated right next to him. A familiar voice ordered a Blood Rain on the rocks, and Reno slowly lowered his arm from his eyes, glaring at the motionless bar in front of him. No more swimming. Good. He could at least maintain some of his dignity.  
  
His hand once again curled itself around his now-empty beer bottle, more for the comfort of the gesture than anything else. "I think you took someone's seat, Strife," he told his new bar companion.   
  
Cloud Strife shrugged, rain dripping from his saturated blonde hair onto the armor fastened on his left shoulder. "The man who was sitting here left just as I was coming in."  
  
"Hn," Reno contributed as the bartender arrived with Cloud's drink. Red salt specially imported from Bone Village marched around the rim of the short, squat glass, the crimson granules complimenting the bright, virulent red-orange of the liquid itself. It looked too cheerful a drink to be called "Blood Rain," but Reno knew from experience that it was as potent as Hell's Fire. Gave a nice burn, too.  
  
Cloud lifted the index finger of his left hand, bringing the bartender to a halt. "Another for him as well," he said levelly. The bartender didn't ask who 'him' was, only moved off to mix another of the drink.  
  
"Those things are expensive," Reno told his beer bottle. "You're gonna run yourself up a high bill."  
  
Another shrug that Reno barely detected out of the corner of his eye. "I've got money," Cloud replied.  
  
Reno was not one to refuse free drinks, even if the source of the charity was the leader of AVALANCHE. Oh hell. This was a bar. People weren't supposed to care about names, or pasts, or sins unresolved. You were just here to drink, and that was all. Have fun if it suited the mood, but you never worried about names or titles unless you wanted a fight to break out sooner or later.  
  
The second Blood Rain arrived next to Reno's forsaken beer, and the redhead was just about to transfer his affections to the glass when a hand clad in a thick leather glove held a napkin in front of him.  
  
Reno lifted his eyes to meet Cloud's Mako blue ones. "The hell? I got something on my face?"  
  
"Yeah," the blonde replied, voice careful.  
  
Reno grabbed the napkin and briskly wiped his mouth.  
  
"No," Cloud said quietly. "Your eyes."  
  
Reno froze, hand still clutching the napkin to his face. He waited, expecting anger, or shame, or sadness that Cloud Strife had seen him with tears lingering in his eyes. But nothing came to him, nothing but the thought that he really wanted to drink that Blood Rain. A swift swipe across his eyes, and Reno did not check to see if there was any dampness on the napkin. He merely let the paper square flutter to the bar and picked up his glass. A bitterly seductive brush over his tongue, and then the alcohol hit his throat...  
  
Yeah, that was a burn.  
  
Cloud didn't say anything else to him, and together they sat in their identical barstools, hunched over their twin Blood Rains. Reno didn't know what Cloud was thinking about, but the Turk was running. Running from a little girl in a pink dress, playing with her blocks on a sunny morning. And running from his wife, from the woman that had single-handedly ruined his life, and was in the process of tearing apart his new one.  
  
But emotions with nowhere to run had to find some outlet, and they happened upon his voice, spilling from his lips in a voice devoid of the slur of inebriation. "I never knew how much I still hated her until I saw her again that cellar. I can't stand the sight of her."  
  
Cloud stirred slightly, voice just as clear and considerably more frank. "You still love her."  
  
Reno snorted. "Shit, Strife, be a little more considerate, will ya? No need to gut-punch me so early in the goddamn conversation."  
  
"But it's true, isn't it? The fact that you still have feelings for her is half the reason you're so infuriated with the situation. I think...that you hate yourself as much as you hate her. Maybe more."  
  
Burning again, but not from the alcohol. "You'd best stop while you're ahead, Cloud."  
  
Cloud stopped, but after a few seconds, Reno found that *he* couldn't. "We had a family together, you know."  
  
"I know."  
  
"We had baby girl named Mika. I loved that little girl."  
  
No response, just wide open silence, ready to receive his words.  
  
"Alette killed her. She killed my reason for living. From then on, I was just an empty husk tottering through my miserable excuse for a life. So I hate her, and what I hate even more is the fact that I still love her after everything she did."  
  
Cloud didn't say anything.  
  
Reno took another sip from his glass. "You were right, Strife. Aren't you happy about that?"  
  
"No."  
  
** ** ** ** ** ** **  
  
How long must I live on before I'm healed?  
  
The real folk blues I only want   
  
to know true happiness.   
  
All that glitters   
  
isn't gold.  
  
The real folk blues I only want   
  
to know true sadness.   
  
A life drenched in a river of mud   
  
isn't so bad   
  
As long as it ends after the first time.  
  
"Real Folk Blues"  
  
Ending theme of Cowboy Bebop  
  
** ** ** ** ** ** **  
  
Vincent's sisters were crying in the darkness, and he could not find them.  
  
Towering trees rose up on all sides, reminiscent of the forests of his homeland, but no, these trees were terribly wrong. Too tall, too menacing. They blotted out the moonlight, robbed him of any sense of direction. All Vincent could hear was the plaintive weeping and the roar of his own blood in his ears. He wanted to cry with frustration, but boys did not cry. He had to be strong and take care of his sisters, just like Mother said.  
  
But where was Mother? He could not find her, either!  
  
"Mother!" he cried into the forest, his voice like it was many years ago. High, shrill, that of a five year old boy who could not find his family.  
  
A path opened before him, the trees arcing away, their great trunks bending at nearly impossibly angles. Light. He saw light! Vincent forced his bare, tired feet to move faster, treading across the ruthless ground with the ease of a grubby child who had spent many a day outdoors.   
  
Vincent reached the end of his path, arms flung forward to embrace the light. He stumbled, and fell into a small clearing. The dark soil beneath him rolled and bubbled as if something ghastly lived underneath it, and the ground rose and fell with its monstrous breaths. The gigantic trees stopped short of the clearing, not wanting to take root in such foul soil. Overhead the red sky churned and thrashed angrily, clouds rolling and battling one another for domination of the realm below them. Some wanted to rule the world. Others wanted to eat it.  
  
A woman sat on a desolate tree stump in the middle of the clearing, her dark hair unbound and tangled down her slender back, her threadbare dress barely clinging to her long, elegant frame.  
  
"Vermillion!" Vincent cried, rushing across the evil soil to meet his sister. She rose, limbs moving with the same unconscious grace she had always possessed.  
  
Vincent wanted to hug her, but he didn't. Vermillion didn't like her little brother very much. Sometimes Vincent thought she hated him. But he didn't want to think about that now. It would make him cry, and he didn't want to cry in front of Vermillion.  
  
He stopped in front of his sister, breathing hard. The air stunk of something foul. "Vermillion! Where is Mother?"  
  
She stared down at him, face blank. Her eyes were the exact color of the crimson skies above.  
  
Vincent shifted anxiously. The soil was burning his feet, like he was standing on hot metal, or acid. "Where did Vanessa and Valkyrie go? Venicia?"  
  
"They have long since passed," Vermillion said, her low, husky voice just as Vincent remembered.  
  
The little boy frowned. He did not understand many things that Vermillion said, but he didn't want to seem stupid. It would just make her dislike him more. While he mulled over what to say to her next, the pain in his feet spiked upwards sharply, to the point where he could not longer ignore it.  
  
"Vermillion," he whimpered, tugging on the sleeve of her dress. "Please pick me up! The ground is burning my feet!"  
  
His sister ignored him, craning her neck backwards. "Look, Vincent, the sky is bleeding."  
  
Now that she mentioned it, Vincent *could* smell blood in the air, but he didn't want to see the bleeding sky! He wanted to see his Mother!  
  
He fisted his small hands in the folds of Vermillion's raggedy dress. "Vermillion! My feet burn!!"  
  
The ground began to shake and roll beneath them in a startling accurate mimicry of the sky. Vincent felt a shameful scream building in his throat, but Vermillion wrapped her arms around him, tucking his face into the fabric of her dress, right underneath her small breasts. "We're going to run, Vincent."  
  
He shook his head wildly as he clung to his sister. "I can't run! My feet hurt! Vermillion, I can't run! Please don't hate me!"  
  
"Silly, I could never hate you," a voice chided, and Vincent froze, recognizing the high-pitched, musical cadence of it, nothing at all like his sister's.  
  
The scent of Yuffie surrounded him, soothing his exhausted nerves and terrified heartbeat. The world quieted, and even his feet stopped burning. Yuffie was quite a bit smaller than his willowy sister, and Vincent's head fit perfectly underneath her chin as she patted his short, dark hair with one hand. He hugged her as tightly as the meager strength in his small arms would permit, pressing his face against the weave of her dark green tank top.  
  
"Don't leave me, please," he begged, unable to keep the tears out of his voice.  
  
She laughed. "Of course not. We will go to Wutai together!"  
  
Wutai?  
  
Vincent awoke to find himself clutching not Yuffie, but the ratty, stained white shirt he'd been wearing for the past couple of days. He blinked into the darkness as his mind swam up from the tides of sleep, shaking off the white foam of dream. Shadowy forms of hastily-packed bags and suitcases bloomed from the blurry darkness. Oh yes, he remembered now. He'd passed out.  
  
Red XIII lay on the bed amongst the array of half-unzipped duffel bags and wayward garments that had wormed their way out of the nylon cages. He made no menacing movements as Vincent struggled into a sitting position, but something flickering in the depths of the beast's one good eye immediately put the gunslinger on guard.  
  
"Did you need something?" Vincent asked calmly, leaning his back against the wall behind him. His limbs ached terribly.  
  
"This situation seems familiar," Red commented.  
  
"How so?"  
  
"You inexplicably passed out on the floor, practically dead. I was napping in the living room when a surge of strange energy roused me from my slumber. Following the origin of the power led me to you. I tried to wake you, Vincent, but I couldn't. Only the sound of your breath and the beating of your heart let me know that you were still alive."  
  
Vincent didn't reply.  
  
"For how long have you been passing out like this, Vincent?" Red demanded.  
  
"Since Kalm, the night after Yuffie was kidnapped."  
  
The lion-like beast's tail swished in growing agitation, the glowing tip the brightest object in the dark room. "I know Cloud asked you once, but I will ask you again: are you losing control of Chaos?"  
  
"My disputes with my internal demons are none of your concern," Vincent said flatly.  
  
Red sighed, the air whistling through his sharp teeth as he rose to all fours and dropped onto the floor with a soft rustling of furred limbs and the muted jingle of the rings in his pierced ears. He sat down inches away from Vincent's outstretched legs.  
  
"This is serious," he stated. "I know you are a secretive man, Vincent, and under normal circumstances, I would respect your privacy, but the last thing AVALANCHE needs right now is for its members to be hoarding information that would be better off shared with the rest of us."  
  
"If I believe my fainting episodes will cause harm to AVALANCHE, rest assured I will take necessary action to protect my comrades."  
  
"Which will involve what? Leaving us?" Red retorted.  
  
His words were a little too close to the truth for comfort. But what bothered him more was that Red knew him well enough that he could predict almost precisely how Vincent would react to a situation.  
  
"Red, I cannot explain to you something I scarcely understand myself. These fainting episodes are merely Chaos' way of trying to tell me something, I believe. Nothing that you or the others should be worried about."  
  
Red looked at him narrowly before shrugging. "I trust you, Vincent, but I do not trust that demon, and when I walked into this room, I smelled almost nothing but Chaos' scent. It was most unnerving."  
  
"Chaos is an unnerving creature," Vincent replied, noticing for the first time that there was a black shirt and a pair of pants folding neatly on a floor a little ways away from him. He looked at Red questioningly, but the beast shook his head.  
  
"I did not lay them out. Judging from the scents clinging to the garments, they are Cloud's clothes, and Yuffie laid them out for you."  
  
"Yuffie," Vincent mused, before realizing that the girl must have happened upon him while he was...incapacitated. "Where is she?"  
  
"Asleep in Tifa's room. Cloud and Reno are out somewhere in the town. I believe Rude and a couple of the others will be going out shortly as well, and you, of course, are invited to go with them." He rose to his feet and padded towards the door. "I leave you to get dressed."  
  
Vincent watched as Red slunk out of the door, listening to the sounds of his claws hitting the floor as he made his way presumably back to the living area. He understood his friend's suspicion, but Vincent had spoken the absolute truth when he said that he hardly understood Chaos' strange actions. The demon wished to show him something, he knew that much. Vincent had a feeling that no matter how hard he fought, he would eventually succumb to the creature's advances and be forced to accept the knowledge he was being offered. Chaos would have it no other way, and even Vincent's unshakable stubbornness could not compare to the patience of an ages-old demon.  
  
Sighing, he discarded the white shirt that had served him fairly well for the past few days and gingerly picked up the garments Yuffie had laid out for him. A black cotton shirt. Durable slacks complete with suspenders. Vincent doubted he would find any need for the latter aspect of the pants, as he didn't have Cloud's small waist and relatively narrow shoulders, but he knew from years of experience that even something as petty as suspenders could prove an indispensable resource in a desperate situation.   
  
Considerate of Yuffie to think of him. If only she knew how sorely misplaced her affections were.  
  
** ** ** ** ** **  
  
Dr. Campbell hurried down the streets of Mideel as fast as the darkness and his still-asleep legs would permit, his emergency bag held tight in his elderly hands and his pristine coat already settled on his shoulders. The close, muggy air of Mideel made for an extremely warm night, and Campbell had to stop for a second to readjust his glasses as they started to slide down the sweat on his nose. But a second was all he took before moving again, panting slightly as the newly rebuilt hospital came into view, bathed in the light that the Lifestream sitting in the center of the town radiated. It was never truly night, here in Mideel.  
  
He was hurrying to the front of the hospital when the door suddenly flew open, spilling artificial light into the not-quite-dark night.  
  
Campbell blinked to clear his vision, and the stout figure of his head nurse, Elise, came rushing towards him, her dark hair unbound and hanging into her face.  
  
"Doctor!" she exalted, clapping her hands together and interlacing her fingers, as if in some semblance of adulation. "Thank GOODNESS you've finally arrived!"  
  
Campbell smiled congenially, sensing that the woman was extremely anxious. "Yes, and thank goodness I got here in one piece. The climb from the center of the town gets longer and longer every day, it seems."  
  
Her nerves not eased in the slightest, Elise took him by the arm and started tugging him towards the door, nearly dragging him. "I know I shouldn't have disturbed you at such at ungodly hour, Doctor," she said breathlessly as she ushered him into the brightly lit interior of the hospital. "But you see, Jed brought this man in here, and…and…I just don't know what to do for him! I don't even know if…"  
  
Her voice trailed off as they entered the mysterious patient's room. Living and growing up in a small town like Mideel where the economy was self-sufficient and no contact with the outside world was really needed, even though it was welcome, Campbell didn't see the kinds of things that big city doctors saw. No gunshot wounds. No axes lodged in various parts of patients' anatomies. He was lucky (or rather, unlucky) if he saw a cut that needed stitches.  
  
That's why when he saw the figure lying on the only bed in the room, he didn't pick up the nurse's reason for alarm right away. The figure on the bed was moving, its head lolling from side to side and its legs twitching, but it didn't seem to be in any pain. It was a man, dark-haired and barefooted, wearing a shirt that was a very familiar color of fluorescent blue-green and a pair of dark blue slacks that sported tears in a couple of places. The funny thing was, he could have sworn that he had seen this man somewhere before.  
  
Then a figure sitting in a chair beside the bed suddenly leapt up, startling the doctor. He had been so engrossed by the patient's outlandish appearance that he had completely missed the rail-thin figure of Jed, one of the local citizens, perched beside the hospital bed.  
  
"I don't know what's wrong with him, doc," Jed said immediately, sounding apologetic for some odd reason. His blue eyes and weathered face were sad, as if he had done something wrong.  
  
"You're the one that brought him in, then?" Campbell asked gently, trying to put the jittery man at ease.   
  
Jed nodded so hard that Campbell half-expected to hear his teeth clack together. "Yessir! I was just down there, you know, by the Lifestream Lake an' all. I like to go down there at night an' all cause it so pretty and everything. And there he was, doc, just floating there like he was dead or something! Had to reach in to get 'em."   
  
Jed suddenly held out his left arm, and Campbell saw that the sleeve of the man's cream-colored flannel shirt was stained the same color as the patient's. Fluorescent green. Lifestream green.  
  
"Hm," Campbell made a soft, considering sound as he approached the patient on the bed, dropping his bag gently to the floor as he went. "You found this man in the Lifestream?"  
  
Jed gave one of those jerky nods again, looking at the doctor nervously as the elderly man bent over to examine the figure on the bed.  
  
//Gods…where have I SEEN this man before?// he thought as his eyes took in the unnaturally pale pallor of the man's skin, the way his limbs would twitch at random intervals. His mouth was open, his lips moving but no sound coming out.  
  
The patient's face suddenly lolled in Campbell's direction.  
  
"Gods," the doctor commented softly, adjusting his glasses. "Some bright eyes he has there…"  
  
The patient's unseeing eyes still bore flecks of what might have been brown at one point, but were now a shimmering golden color, their luminescence exploding under the lights of the room. Most of the people in Mideel now had rather bright eyes as a result of high exposure to the Lifestream, but none of them were like THIS.  
  
Then Campbell suddenly realized. The twitching of the limbs. The dilated and unfocused eyes. The ceaseless moving of the lips. The shirt stained with the liquid of the Lifestream. And the glowing eyes. The glowing Mako eyes. The only time he had seen eyes as bright as this was on another man about a year ago. That blond swordsman who had washed up on their shores…  
  
Heart thumping painfully in his chest, Campbell looked at the dark hair and beard of the patient, and he suddenly realized just where he had seen this man before. On television. With the rest of AVALANCHE.  
  
It was Reeve of Neo-Shinra.  
  
"Doctor?" Elise asked cautiously from the doorway. "I'm not sure, but this looks somewhat similar to that case a year ago. You know, with that young pokey-haired man carrying that huge sword?"  
  
The doctor straightened, folding his arms across his chest. "This case isn't just similar, Elise," he said quietly. "It IS the same case. Mako poisoning. Only this case is MUCH more advanced." He looked sadly at the mute, twitching figure on the bed.   
  
"This man doesn't have very long. Please, Elise, find me some way to contact Cloud Strife."  
  
~TBC  
  
23 March 2003 


	40. Sojourn in Wutai I

Sojourn in Wutai I "...and it is not just because I just watched you nearly fall headfirst into my fishpond." Lord Godo  
  
Yuffie quietly shut the back door behind her, holding her breath and waiting fearfully. Her stomach had wound itself into knots, and her heart seemed to pound annoyingly loud in her chest. So loud, in fact, that she was surprised it hadn't woken up all of Rocket Town yet.  
  
Once she was satisfied that her nocturnal meandering had gone unnoticed, she slowly released her breath and wiped the perspiration off her forehead. Damp night air pressed against her skin like a thick musk, still heavy with moisture from the rain that had blessedly halted for a few precious moments. Yuffie had no doubt the erratic downpours would resume soon, and thus, she had to hurry.  
  
Wrapping her borrowed cloak tighter around her body, she tiptoed through the slick grass of Cid's backyard, trying to make her footfalls as silent as possible. Years of thievery had taught her that patience, perseverance, and quiet feet always triumphed in the end. Yuffie was all for the "quiet feet" bit, but she always preferred a more straightforward approach over the sneaky, roundabout methods most freakishly successful thieves swore by.  
  
Time was teaching Yuffie many things.  
  
Waiting for everyone to return home from their beer-guzzling adventures had tried the very limits of her patience. Yuffie didn't feel comfortable skulking around Cid's house like a traitor with a dirty secret when her friends were still out and about. It seemed Cloud and Reno would never return from their venture to the local bar until she heard Elena yelling at the drunken duo in the living room. Something about kangaroos and Reno running into a telephone pole. And Rude's particularly nasty case of gas.  
  
Yuffie didn't even want to ASK about that one.  
  
But she'd waited on the floor of Tifa's room, covered from neck to toe in a sleeping bag so no one would see that she hadn't bothered to change into her nightclothes. She knew that Tifa was a light sleeper, but the older woman had thankfully remained unconscious while Yuffie tiptoed out of the room and to the back door. It seemed Cloud, Reno, and the other bar-hoppers had passed out in the living room before making it to their bedrooms, and Red the resident bloodhound had fortunately opted to sleep out on the porch rather than indoors.  
  
All things considered, Yuffie had a lucky break, and by Leviathan, she was NOT going to waste it!  
  
Praying that none of her friends had decided to take a late night walk (hey, thirteen people were damn hard to keep track of!), Yuffie made her way across the Highwinds' backyard, which looked a lot bigger without the Tiny Bronco to occupy most of the space. The poor broken plane was probably doing some deep-sea solo surfing by now. Eh, it was hunk of junk anyways. Not that she was going to tell that to Cid or anything.  
  
She nimbly leapt the fence and dared one last glance back at the house. No suspicious lights or shadows had appeared in the past thirty seconds. So far, so good. A loud burst of thunder roared directly above her, and Yuffie nearly peed her pants. She suddenly felt as if the skies had thrown a spotlight on her figure, and the clouds were crying, "Here she is! She's over here!"  
  
//Shutupshutupshutup,// Yuffie chanted in her head as she made a mad dash for the chocobo barn Cid had built a little ways behind his house. //Dammit, I'm gonna get caught! Stupid-ass thunder gave away my position and oh gawd, how am I going to get out of this one? I'm so screwed! Whose bright idea was this in the first place and holy shit, it was mine because I'm an idiot!//  
  
Yuffie's frantic thoughts didn't let up until she practically slammed face first into the doors of the chocobo barn. Her trembling fingers fumbled their way into the small crack between the doors, finding enough leverage to push one to the side. Yuffie eased her slender body into the small gap, and then it was just her panting in the still darkness of barn, surrounded by the smell of greenery and chocobo poop. And ah, how lovely it was!  
  
Sleepy warks issued from the darkness, and Yuffie answered in a squeaky voice she barely recognized as her own, "It's me, choco-butts! Your old friend Yuffie!"  
  
More warks and cheeps. The sound of claws moving over hay and wood. Yuffie was able to pick out two different curious cheeps from the good-mannered golds and one very annoyed squawk that *had* to be Triton - the bluest, meanest, rottenest chocobo Yuffie had ever had the displeasure of being dumped on her ass by. Only Tifa and Cid could ride the nasty birdbrain with any amount of success, but that was fine because Yuffie had NO intention of taking Triton out for a stroll.  
  
"I'm coming, birdies," Yuffie said in a sing-song voice that was meant as more of a comfort for herself than the chocobos. She tried to calm to the pounding of her heart as she fumbled along the wall for the light switch that Mr. Fix-It Cid had cleverly installed in the barn. No flashlights or lanterns needed, no siree. One flick of her fingers, and the entire barn filled with lovely, electric illumination that did wonders for Yuffie's frazzled nerves.  
  
Unfortunately, the light's intrusion elicited another indignant squawk from Triton, and Yuffie hurriedly shut the small gap she had made in the barn doors, lest the light and the chocobo's incessant whining wake the others.  
  
She marched over to Triton's stall and glared at the blue chocobo, who glared right back at her. "Dammit, if I were Cid, I would have cooked you up and served you as dinner a long time ago!" she whisper-screamed at the bird. "What is it with you blues? If I were Butterfly, I'd be ashamed to claim you as my son!"  
  
The mention of Yuffie's much-missed chocobo cooled her temper a little. Cid's stable had eight different stalls, one for each of AVALANCHE's chocobos. It was kind of depressing to see only three of those stalls occupied by the large birds. However, Yuffie was only worried a little about the chocobos they had left at Kalm. The birdbrains loved to swim, and she knew without a doubt that no matter what grudge Butterfly held against her master, if Yuffie went to Kalm and called her chocobo's name, then by golly, Butterfly would come running if she were in earshot. Chocobo Billy still raved to customers about how "them old folks in AVALANCHE" had bred some of the most loyal chocobos he'd ever seen.  
  
Five minutes later, Yuffie crept back out of the barn holding the reins of Zoe, the more mannerly of the two gold chocobos. And the quieter. The elegant bird obediently held still while Yuffie mounted her, shifting on the saddle until she was remotely comfortable. Another glance towards the house that lay ominously quiet against the cloudy night sky, and Yuffie was off with only a minute flick of the reins.  
  
Between Zoe and her twin brother Quinn (also a gold), Zoe was the faster bird, and tonight Yuffie had chosen speed over endurance. Zoe had won them countless races at Gold Saucer, and her much-valued speed did not waver as she brought her rider to the sandy shores outside Rocket Town in a little less than five minutes.  
  
However, Yuffie reined the chocobo in, briefly daunted by the visage of the great ocean stretching like a plain of endless dark before her. Lightning blazed in the dark sky while its reflection simultaneously writhed on the watery surface, as if both ocean and sky conspired to confuse onlookers as to which way was up and which was down. A salty wind tore at Yuffie's cloak and sent locks of chocolate brown hair flying into her eyes, which she pushed away in great agitation.  
  
It was impossible to see edge of the Wutai land mass in the darkness, but Yuffie knew it was out there. All she needed to do was guide Zoe onto the black waters and steer her in a northwestern direction. But...what if, in the darkness, Yuffie got turned around and the two of them were lost at sea? She had never ridden a chocobo on the ocean during a thunderstorm. What if the waves suddenly got turbulent and the two of them were swallowed by the hungry currents?  
  
Yuffie tightened her grip on Zoe's reins until she felt the leather bite painfully into her palms. She was being stupid again. There was no way she could miss Wutai, it was the biggest chunk of land for miles! And if she DID get lost, well, gold chocobos were known to guide lost riders home by following their own innate sense of direction, and Zoe's instincts had yet to fail them. As for Yuffie's bothersome seasickness, if she could ride a jet ski and not toss her cookies, then this should be no problem.  
  
//But that was different,// she argued with herself. //That time I had Vincent with me. And now, it's just me and the ocean, and she's always hated me.//  
  
Zoe warked softly, craning her head to the side to peer worriedly at her rider. Yuffie affectionately patted the crown of golden feathers adorning the bird's head. "It's just you and me, girl. I think we're gonna be just fine, but if worse comes to worst, I'll sink to the bottom with you."  
  
The chocobo cooed encouragingly despite her rider's morbid words. Yuffie took a deep breath and flicked the reins. A few swift steps, a single moment of sickening disorientation as the ground gave way to water, and she was riding the ocean.  
  
** ** ** ** **  
  
Titus knew the instant the talons of Yuffie's Kisaragi's golden chocobo touched the ocean's surface. He could feel them like small pinpricks along the flesh of his back, needling the skin. The sensations were not as strong as they might have been before the Planet had become ill, but Titus had worshipped age-old gods for longer than Yuffie had been alive. One does not easily forget what it is like to slumber safely in the womb of the Mother of all Life, surrounded by her children, where her watery flesh was your own flesh. It was a total bombardment of sensations that often drove worshippers mad, but not Titus. He had seen and felt far worse things than ships sailing across his chest, or a hurricane whipping the strands of his white-blond hair into a frenzy. Simple things. Such comforting things.  
  
But Titus had not synchronized with the Mother in a long time, and her turbulent waters were not very hospitable at the moment. He soon slipped out of her arms and back to his prison of flesh and bone, mind slowing swimming up from the depths of the trance he had put himself in. His emerald eyes glowed softly as he opened them to find himself once again in the real world: handcuffed to the radiator of Cid Highwind's house, limbs horribly cramped, the air around him permeated by soft darkness.  
  
He let the breath sigh out of his lungs one last time and expanded his awareness to include the entire house, grazing unseen fingers over each of its occupants. Asleep, most of them. Dreaming, some. The only ones that lie awake in the witching hour were the baldheaded Turk called Rude, who shifted restlessly in the armchair he was slouched in, and Shera Highwind, kept from sleep by her husband's snores. But she was not annoyed by this. Such a serene mind, that Shera. Titus briefly contemplated settling his power against her aura, rolling himself in it and absorbing some of her utter placidity. He quickly decided against it, though. Some humans could feel his bodiless presence, and he didn't want to risk exposure if Shera Highwind was one of them. One complaint of strange things amiss, and he knew AVALANCHE would immediately point fingers in his direction.  
  
The other creature that merited some attention from Titus was the one called Red XIII, who never truly slept, it seemed. He dozed often, such as he was doing now on the porch of the house, but that was all Titus discerned before retracting the probing fingers of his power. That one was slightly more sensitive to things of the metaphysical breed, and Titus had known very early on that he had to be wary of the Guardian of Cosmo Canyon.  
  
Titus withdrew into himself as a headache began to form at his temples. He smiled without mirth. His skills were rusty with disuse if he was feeling pain this early on. He opened his eyes once again to the dark living room, raising his hands to rub his aching wrists as best he could with the handcuffs in the way. Such silly things, really. He could shatter them in an instant if he wanted. He had already wormed his way out of them twice today to get circulation running back into his hands, and AVALANCHE had been none the wiser.  
  
He suddenly sensed a pair of eyes on him, and he looked up to find Vincent Valentine standing not five feet away from him, hovering in the doorless threshold that separated the living room and the kitchen.  
  
Titus stared openly, hoping his shock didn't show on his face. //He must have been standing there for a while, or I would have heard him approach. Which means he was right on top of me this entire time, and I didn't even sense a glimmer of his mind.//  
  
After the first time Titus had picked up images leaking from Vincent's mind in Junon, the man had been sealed up tighter than an airless vault. He was like a walking void of emptiness. Not even that, actually. He was simply...invisible to Titus' mind. Disturbing. Most disturbing.  
  
Titus hadn't truly feared a man or woman in a long time, but he was starting to think Vincent Valentine might be worth a little fear.  
  
There was something horribly wrong with the man, that was certain. From what Titus knew of his past, Valentine's body had been...tampered with by a man of evil scientific genius. But there was something else about the dark gunslinger that went beyond having an odd body composition. Something twisted and familiar.  
  
Titus schooled his face into its familiar mask of disinterest as he met Valentine's gaze levelly. "If you're looking for Yuffie," he whispered, knowing that no matter how soft his voice was, the other man would hear it. "She is crossing the ocean to Wutai as we speak."  
  
"I know," Vincent said, voice just as quiet, just as emotionless.  
  
"If you plan to go after her, take a cloak from the hall closet. Another downpour will be arriving in around ten minutes."  
  
Vincent didn't ask why Titus was telling him such things, or how the strange man knew such outlandish information. He merely turned on heel and strode away. A few moments later, Titus heard the hall closet door creak open. A quick rustle of the garments within, another creak as the door was closed, and then the finality of the backdoor disturbing the air currents as it opened and closed almost silently on well-oiled hinges.  
  
"Godspeed, Valentine," Titus murmured.  
  
** ** ** ** **  
  
Yuffie made it to Wutai safe and sound. No monster-sized waves rose from the ocean's watery depths to devour her. She didn't get struck by lightning or abducted by aliens. Oh, and she didn't vomit or get seasick. That was a definite plus. Sure, it started raining not long after she and Zoe started crossing the ocean, but that was no biggie. She'd been putting up with rain for what seemed like forever; what was a little more?  
  
Once she got back on dry land, she instantly felt better. The monsters of Thunder Valley didn't feel like coming out to play in such abominable weather, not that they would have posed much of a threat to Yuffie and the power of her super mighty Oritsuru in the event that they managed to catch up to a rider on a gold chocobo.  
  
Needless to say, her journey through the rocky terrain at the southernmost tip of the Wutai continent was uneventful save for the clumps of mud now clinging to her and Zoe's legs. Mud was generally not a fun thing, but as soon as the distant visage of her home city appeared in the distance, Yuffie forgot all her physical discomforts. She was home at last!  
  
She left Zoe underneath a rocky overhang with a sincere apology, a bagful of greens, and the promise that she wouldn't have to wait long in the rain. Then, the young woman wrapped herself in the thick folds of her cloak and made her way into Wutai.  
  
In the rain, the nightlife of Wutai was a shadow of its usual teeming self. Tourists still flocked to the city in droves, wanting to be immersed in a living, breathing relic of history where it seemed every building, statue, and street had a story behind it. Now, most of those eager tourists were probably holed up in their hotel rooms. Only the most die-hard bar-hoppers dared to walk the muddy streets, some tottering drunkenly from side to side before falling ass-first in the mud while still others clung giddily to their rain-soaked companions, laughing loud enough to wake the dead.  
  
Yuffie's dark gray eyes picked out one of these inebriated bands, and followed them.  
  
~Go to the bars where the drifters frequent. The nomadic sailors that chase the ocean's tides and only make contact with land a few times a year. They sing the Mother's songs in drunken cheer and then are gone, for She would have it no other way.~  
  
Yuffie wasn't so much hearing voices as feeling a wordless tugging in her mind, and she tried to put its soundless whispers into something audible that she could hear, or think. It was like some latent sense had awakened in her, and she was powerless before its insistence. It was strange, for it almost felt as if the words were spoken in her mother's voice, though Yuffie was fairly certain her mother had never told her to go to a *bar*.  
  
She kept to the shadows, hunkering in the folds of her cloak, face and body invisible within its embrace. For some reason, she didn't want anybody to know she was here. Friends and tourists alike always wanted to swamp around and ask questions of Lady Yuffie of Wutai, and usually the young ninja wallowed in the attention like a pig wallowing in...well, mud, but not tonight. She had more pressing business.  
  
The laughing trio of men steered clear of the overcrowded Turtle's Paradise and instead made their way to one of the less-frequented bars, the Golden Samurai. Yuffie thought it was an appropriate name for the bar, though someone without some knowledge of Wutainese history might not understand the allusion. To make a long story short, the bar was named for one of Wutai's legendary warriors, and said legendary warrior had loved his alcohol almost as much as his Fatherland. Hence, the Golden Samurai.  
  
The jolly guys entered the bar and immediately became lost in the throng of drunken patrons, but that was fine. Yuffie didn't need them any longer.  
  
~The smaller bars will hold the wiser men, as they harbor the unconscious fear that the tender ears of the mainstream crowd will be haunted forever by the words they sing so unwittingly. But you can bear them, can't you?~  
  
"I can," Yuffie whispered to no one in particular as she pushed aside the mat that hung over the door. Light, sound, and smoke immediately washed over her like a giant beast closing its maw with her inside. The pulse of life and the smell of alcohol filled the air like a slightly odoriferous perfume that was tantalizing in small amounts, but overwhelming if indulged too readily. The room was practically packed wall to wall with laughing people, and Yuffie knew why.  
  
The sailors could not sail their ships in such weather, and so they docked in Wutai. But the seagoers became restless on land, and so they had to find oblivion in the drink if they could not get it from the ocean and her limitless waters. Saltwater junkies, her father had once called them.  
  
None of the patrons paid any heed to the small, sopping wet figure that gracefully maneuvered amongst their laughing throng to take a seat at the only empty table in the room. Yuffie settled in her corner, wrapped in hazy shadows and the saturated cloth of her cloak. A frazzled waitress passed by and placed a tankard of ale and a glass in front of Yuffie, not bothering to ask if she wanted the alcohol or not. No one came here for any other purpose than to drink and carry on.  
  
~Mind clear. Eyes unclouded. Ears and mind open. And listen. Just listen.~  
  
And Yuffie did. Water dripping from the hood of her cloak, she listened.  
  
The room swelled with noise as if someone had just yanked cotton out of her ears, allowing the world to materialize in a great outburst of sound and fury. The sailors were singing. Singing so many songs.  
  
And in that bog there was a tree A rare tree and rattlin' tree The tree in the bog And the bog down in the valley-o!  
  
No, that was not the one. It was not even Wutainese in origin. But then again, the song she sought so desperately to hear had most surely originated long before Yuffie's ancestors had established the country she now loved so dearly. Another group of sailors burst into song, regaling in unharmonious tones the adventures of one of Wutai's mythical heroes. No, that was not the one, either.  
  
//Someone HAS to be singing it!// she thought in frustration.  
  
~It is always sung, always there, hidden, just waiting for a pair of desperate, attentive ears.~  
  
Yuffie took deep calming breaths and watched condensation roll down the sides of the untouched tankard in front of her. Slowly, she felt the knot of exasperation in her chest unwind itself, and a great warmth diffused through her limbs, soothing her, almost lulling her into a trance-like state. The noises in the room danced in and out of her attention, like curious children peering into a room after hearing odd noises.  
  
And then, she heard it, a clear aria that soared above all the others like the rainbow-plumed Phoenix gliding over a desolate battlefield, reviving the dead with its fiery touch. A woman was singing it. Fancy that. Female sailors were a true rarity.  
  
Resisting the urge to turn and see from whose mouth the song emerged, Yuffie let the lady sailor's dulcet tones wash over her, drowning her in the embrace of a song her mother had taught her years ago, a song in language that Yuffie could not speak but understood completely. The alien syllables struck her ears and confused the hell out of her mind, but there was no need for worry. She knew what the words meant.  
  
The ravenous Beast The great Hunger The Planet-Eater At the heart of the world it lies Alone in madness, divorced from its Other The minions gather and sing, mindless and scorned Into the darkness they all descend  
  
But now the time to rise is near! Sweet creature of black and white, cry no longer Valiant prince, ascend your throne Unwilling acolyte, care for your reluctant god Lady of cruelest destiny, you must descend Into the dark, into the emerald wreaths of phantasmal toil Past the wall of corpses that guards its domain Into the abysmal lake of the begrudgingly blessed Defeat the minions and feed the beast A heart of beautiful, foulest gold  
  
Over. It was over. The song slowly faded to join the other noises pulsing in the air like the steady thump, thump, thump of a monstrous heart. There were beads of sweat on Yuffie's upper lip, and she realized with a start that her breaths exited in and out of her lungs in thin, reedy pants. Damn, now that couldn't be good. She took a deep breath and promptly hacked as second-hand smoke drifting from the table of laughing teenagers nearby swooped maliciously into her lungs. Bleh.  
  
Yuffie rose shakily to her feet and dropped a few pieces of gil next to the full tankard of ale. She beat a hasty exit from the bar, still feeling lightheaded and just plain weirded-out. The first thing she'd done when she set foot in her homeland was follow a bunch of losers to a bar. She knew it was good to act on pure instinct, and now she had the words of her Mother's old song pulsing gently in her head, but still...bars were nasty! Good thing she had her cloak to veil her identity. If her father found out where she'd gone, the old coot would get his panties in a twist, and what a fiasco that would be!  
  
She high-tailed it out of the loud, smoky bar and back into the annoyingly persistent rain. Mud squelched underneath her shoes as she rounded the corner of the bar and stepped onto the main road, the goal of reaching home and indulging in some dry clothes and a nice, hot soak in the tub clearly ensconced in her mind. Finally, she could get some clothes that actually fit her! Oh, and maybe she would say 'hi' to her dad, too.  
  
Unfortunately, her plans were foiled when she felt an odd presence at her back, a great shadow looming over her like a thunderstorm on the nighttime horizon, soundless yet full of light and conflict. She immediately sent her left elbow flying backwards in the stranger's general direction, but her otherwise superbly efficient attack was hindered by the heavy folds of her wet, cloak. Cold, hard fingers wrapped her elbow in a vice-like grip, and she barely registered a pale arm snaking lightning-fast around her slender body to grip her right wrist as she struggled to free her Oritsuru were she had fastened it to her belt.  
  
"Lemme go, rat bastard!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs, hoping someone would hear her over the rain. If she could delay her attacker long enough then...  
  
"That's a bit of a rude greeting, wouldn't you agree?" a familiar voice asked wryly.  
  
She nearly choked. "Gawd! Stupid Vinnie! I swear if I had 10 gil for every time you've snuck up on me, I wouldn't have to steal materia anymore!"  
  
"You shouldn't steal things anyhow," Vincent scolded, releasing his grip on her arms.  
  
Yuffie turned with every intention of giving her patronizing companion a piece of her mind when she realized that, holy crud, Vincent Valentine was standing in front her. Where he wasn't supposed to be. He was supposed to be back in Rocket Town blissfully a-snooze in his bed, oblivious to her nocturnal meanderings.  
  
"What are you doing in Wutai, Yuffie?" he asked, crimson eyes just barely visible underneath the hood of his black cloak. Strands of wet hair clung to the sides of his pale face, one strand almost touching the corner of his mouth. That irked Yuffie a little. She hated when her hair got into her eyes or mouth, which was normally why she opted to keep it short. Until she had actually started to care that having longer hair might actually be prettier on her.  
  
"Oh me?" she asked in her best innocent tone. "Can't a girl pay a spur-of- the-moment visit to her hometown?"  
  
"In the middle of the night during a thunderstorm?"  
  
"It was spur-of-the-moment, I told you!" she countered heatedly. "And it wasn't thundering when I left!"  
  
"Why didn't you tell anyone where you were going?" he demanded.  
  
Yuffie was starting to get annoyed. "You losers were drunk off your asses! Even if I had told Cloud where I was going, he probably wouldn't have remembered anyway! And he probably would have barfed on my sneakers, to top it all off."  
  
Even through the shadows inside Vincent's hood, she could see his dark eyebrows draw menacingly low over his eyes. Damn, that strand of hair next to his mouth was really bothering her! "You're lying to me, Yuffie. Again."  
  
The muted anger in that last word made her flush with shame. "Am not," she feebly defended her integrity.  
  
"Are to," Vincent deadpanned.  
  
Yuffie through her hands up in frustration, heedless of the flurry of raindrops that struck her exposed clothes as her cloak was untimely flung open by the gesture. "Whatever, Vinnie! I just wanted to come home, okay? I need underwear and clothes and I want to see my mother's kimonos again!"  
  
Vincent cast his eyes to the side, and if Yuffie didn't know better, she would have said he looked apologetic. Ha! Served him right for giving her crap.  
  
"And just what are YOU doing here?" she demanded. "You'd better not be stalking me!"  
  
"You've been kidnapped once, Yuffie. I wasn't going to let it happen again."  
  
She sighed. Stupid Vincent always found a way to douse her anger. "Titus is the one who kidnapped me last time, and he's kind of incapacitated at the moment."  
  
"But don't forget about Jezebel and Montana," Vincent insisted, his voice hardening. Oh great, she could smell a lecture coming on.  
  
"I know, I know, I'm dumb, okay?" Yuffie grumbled, drawing her cloak tighter around her body. "Can we walk and talk at the same time? I'm soaking wet and freezing."  
  
Without waiting for a reply, she turned and began striding purposefully down the road, Vincent wordlessly falling into step beside her. Mud clung to her shoes, hell-bent on miming the impression that she had cement blocks on her feet, but the sight of the pagoda rising in the distance spurred her on. A little mud never hurt anyone!  
  
Though Yuffie had suggested walking and talking, Vincent no longer seemed interested in doing the latter. Fine by her, but she had to admit that it was nice to have him beside her, moving like a dark shadow through the sheets of endless rain, boots leaving swollen imprints in the mud alongside her much daintier ones. For someone who claimed he had a dark, disruptive presence, Yuffie found Vincent's effect on her quite calming. She hated long, awkward silences, but he was one of the only people she'd met in her entire lifetime that she felt comfortable being quiet around.  
  
By the time they reached her father's home, Yuffie no longer had sneakers. She had huge blocks of mud encasing her feet. Good thing they weren't her shoes. She'd have to send the boots back to Kyra with a heartfelt letter of apology. Quickly racing up the steps and into the sanctuary of the overhanging roof, Yuffie kicked her shoes off and left them in the rain.  
  
Vincent clomped up after her, equally muddy boots making hollow, thudding noises on the wooden stairs. "I will wait out here."  
  
"No way!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Come inside."  
  
"I will track mud and water in the house."  
  
"So leave your boots out here so the rain can wash the mud off," Yuffie reasoned. "And water can be easily mopped up."  
  
Vincent frowned, and that little piece of hair stuck to the corner of his mouth frowned with him. "Very well."  
  
He started to kneel to unlace his boots, but not before Yuffie's finger had shot out and gently pushed that lock of wet hair away from his mouth. His eyebrows lifted in question, crimson eyes widening fractionally as he stared up at her.  
  
Yuffie felt her face growing hot, and she damned her quick, impulsive, thieving hands a thousand times over. "It was bothering me! Because your skin is so pale and your hair is so dark and it looked like you were about to start nibbling on it!"  
  
Vincent just continued looking at her oddly, and she made a show of tapping her foot impatiently, still trying valiantly to cover up her embarrassment. Pale fingers made quickly work of the laces of his boots, and soon the dark shoes joined hers at the edge of the porch, the rain immediately sloughing off the outer layers of loose mud. Good to know the damn droplets were good for something other than ruining Yuffie's mood and clothes.  
  
Yuffie dug into her ever-present items satchel and procured a set of keys, fingers immediately feeling out the shape of the correct one and inserting it into the lock on the front door. A satisfying click, and she was carefully opening the door to greet her dark home. Her eyes instinctively scanned the foyer for movement, but all she saw were the scurrying, brightly-colored forms of the goldfish in the humongous fish pond that dominated the entryway.  
  
She quickly ushered Vincent inside, closing the door quietly behind him, lest the noise wake her father. Lord Godo was usually a deep sleeper, but lately she'd heard him making rounds of the house at unusual hours of the night, an annoying habit that only surfaced when he felt troubled by something. Now Yuffie knew where she got most of her weirdness from.  
  
"Give me your cloak," she whispered to Vincent. "These things don't do jack crap for us. I'll find some rain slickers or something."  
  
The dark-haired man undid the clasp of his cloak and extricated himself from the thick layers, depositing the water-heavy garment in Yuffie's waiting arms. She felt the warm, fuzzy edge of pleasure press against her heart when she saw he was wearing the clothes she had laid out for him, the black shirt contrasting sharply with the tarnished gold of his claw and the pale skin left bare on his other arm. The suspenders of the pants dangled against his legs like dark twines of rope.  
  
"Like the way you did the suspenders, Vinnie," she commented with a smile. "Very fashionable."  
  
Vincent made a noncommittal noise and pushed his hair back from his eyes, which were scanning the shadows of the foyer in slow, methodical motions.  
  
"I'll be back," Yuffie told him. "Make friends with the goldfish or something, and if you hear my dad coming, try and hide. I think he might get the wrong idea if he knew I brought a man home at this time of night."  
  
Vincent gave her a sharp glance, but the young woman was already scurrying away down the hall, stockinged feet swift and balanced despite the weight of the two waterlogged cloaks in her arms. He watched the way her hair, the brown color rich with the dampness of the thick tresses, swayed against the tops of her narrow shoulders until she turned the corner and disappeared from sight.  
  
Crimson eyes stared for a second more before shuttering closed, their owner issuing a confused shake of his dark head, hair an annoyingly heavy mass on his shoulders and back. What was he doing? He was already past insisting that his and Yuffie's relationship was normal, or even healthy for that matter. He was old enough to be her grandfather, with a soul besotted with more sins than there were stars and hands stained with the blood countless victims whose names he had long forgotten. Or had never been told in the first place. Turks weren't supposed to ask questions, after all.  
  
Vincent was sorely tempted to leave. To flee into the long-armed embrace of the night and leave such needling intricacies in the timeless vault of this heart, where he locked all things too precious for him to touch. But at the same time, he knew turning his back and hoping the feelings would go away would not help him. Their complicated relationship was not going to simply unravel its twisted loops into an ordered, contained thing that he could easily understand. At this point, the best thing would be to simply try and sort things out later.  
  
He pushed images of Yuffie from his mind and surveyed his surroundings. He had been in Godo's house a couple of times prior to this, when he, Cloud, and Barret had gone on a mad chase to retrieve their materia from Yuffie's thieving clutches. Little had changed, at least in the foyer area. The wooden floor was still clean and spotless save for the wet footprints Yuffie had left while walking around. Vincent's feet left much larger imprints as he moved quietly up to the man-made pond filled with natural aquatic greenery and pure, clear water that shone like an accretion of a diamonds in the small spotlight that kept a constant vigil in the corner of the ceiling, its powerful beam angled downwards to illuminate the pond.  
  
The gracefully flailing figures of the goldfish were vessels of color and motion against the dark brown rocks. Spottled black. Pure orange. Vibrant yellow. And just about every combination of the three, complete with bellies shiny with silver-white scales. He'd never seen so many different varieties. Hell, the goldfish could have all been different species, for all he knew of the water-dwelling creatures.  
  
The rim of the pond hummed lightly underneath his hands as Vincent knelt and leaned against it. Automatic water-filtering system, no doubt. A subtle reminder that the pond was man-made. His shadow danced lazily on the surface of the water and he leaned over the tank, errant strands of ebony hair snaking out of the wet mass on his shoulders to nearly touch the translucent liquid. Yuffie had told him to make friends with the goldfish, after all.  
  
He watched one of the creatures, a stocky black thing with eyes bulging like tumors from the front of its body, swim in and out of his shadow, as if inexplicably drawn back into the darkness like a moth to a flame. It passed into the light, and he saw a patch of color along its left flank, close to its tail. It was probably orange, but for a second, the color seemed as red as fresh...  
  
...blood. Blood everywhere. The aged soil boiled with it, like a churning bog that had moss thinly veiling the surface of monster-infested water. Only in this case, there was no water beneath the surface, only the thick, wet embrace of blood, still hot, still fresh. How bittersweet it was on the tongue. How coppery and satisfying, especially in large amounts such as the scarlet spoils reaped by the warring forces of human and Cetra so many years ago.  
  
Nausea raped his senses, and Vincent would have flung himself away from the disgusting sight in below him if he wasn't certain moving would only cause him to fall beneath the soil's surface and into the scalding, crimson embrace of what lay below. His soul screamed against the voice in his head, hollering nonsensical words and guttural cries.  
  
MONSTER. LOST POWER OF SPEECH?  
  
"Demon!" was the first word Vincent's mind could conjure. The most apt word in this situation.  
  
SHOW YOU NOW.  
  
If such a thing were possible, Chaos' will was even stronger this time, bearing down on him like a relentless barrage of blows from Cloud's Omnislash. He could practically hear the demon, smell it, feel those leathery wings trying to wrap him in a deadly embrace. Vincent could not vanquish the creature, and as he began to fear that his coexistence with Chaos was turning from mutualistic to parasitic, all he could do was stand his ground and fight to maintain his sense of Self.  
  
A clawed hand suddenly wrapped firmly around his arm, and the very idea of that thing touching him was more than Vincent could take. He didn't care if he fell into a sea of blood and drowned in its scarlet depths so long as he was free of Chaos' reign.  
  
He let out a rebellious cry and wretched his arm free, the suddenly soft digits relinquishing their grip without a fight. Human soft, not the leathery texture of a demon. The nightmare realm abruptly dissolved, and Vincent saw a flash of Lord Godo's surprised face as he stumbled away from the man, a slippery patch of water on the floor sending him careening into a nearby wall.  
  
Cool wood met the damp material of his shirt, sending a jarring wave down the entire length of his metal arm. He leaned heavily against the wall to avoid sliding to the floor in a boneless heap. His throat and nose strained to deliver oxygen to his lungs, to cleanse them of the horrible scent of blood and Chaos. His red eyes focused blearily on Godo, dressed only in a yukata and an overcoat embroidered with battling beasts of legend. One of them looked suspiciously like Water God Leviathan. Yet another bore an uncanny resemblance to Chaos' demonic visage.  
  
//I'm losing my mind.//  
  
"Are you alright, Valentine?" the Lord of Wutai demanded, gaze dark and searching. Or maybe it was merely a trick of the shadows, a play of light on a face becoming heavily creased with age. How Vincent should have been, if Hojo's wickedly ingenious experimentations hadn't left him permanently estranged from the touch of Time.  
  
//Valentine. He recognized me.// Vincent was deeply relieved by that. He was sure he made a perfectly disturbing sight to find in one's foyer in the middle of the night.  
  
"Forgive me, Lord Godo," he murmured. "I have not been feeling well as of late."  
  
//Please don't let me collapse this time.//  
  
The man frowned. "Obviously. You're as white as a sheet."  
  
Vincent almost smiled. "This is my normal skin tone, I'm afraid."  
  
Godo lifted an eyebrow. "Indeed. You know, Valentine, you seem different from the last time I saw you, and it is not just because I watched you nearly fall headfirst into my fishpond."  
  
The gunslinger hadn't the slightest clue how to respond to that, or if the Wutainese sovereign even expected a reply. The man's almond-shaped eyes dropped slowly to where the pond's spotlight danced on the water on the floor. Godo's gaze traveled to the left, following the liquid trail Yuffie's feet had made down the hall.  
  
"Well, I see my charming daughter has returned without as much as a 'hello' to her old dad," he said huffily, but with a faint trace of weary affection. "What am I to do with that girl?" His eyes turned back to Vincent. "I'm assuming she brought you with her."  
  
"She did," Vincent replied, experimentally pushing away from the wall. He wobbled a bit, but it seemed his strength and equilibrium were returning to him.  
  
Godo's eyes narrowed, giving Vincent a soul-searching stare so prolonged that the AVALANCHE member was about to offer to wait outside when Yuffie's father suddenly nodded like had just realized something. Or had confirmed his suspicions about something.  
  
"Come with me, Valentine," he said, tone that of a man who was not keen on disobedience. He turned and vanished into the shadows of the right-side hall without another word, trusting that Vincent would follow.  
  
And after a moment of hesitation, Vincent did.  
  
~tbc  
  
* The song about the rattlin' bog is not mine. It's a song we sang in elementary school music class. I don't know who wrote it, or I'd credit them. 


	41. Sojourn in Wutai II

**Sink to the Bottom With You Ch. 39  
Sojourn in Wutai II**

Yuffie bustled about the room in nothing but her undergarments, a silent admittance to the stuffiness of her poor, estranged room. Normally, she liked being as far away from the main parts of the house (and her father) as humanly possible, but in the height of summer's mugginess, she often wished she were a little chummier with her remaining parental unit.

Her original knapsack, a conveniently portable little thing, had gone up in flames along with the Final Heaven bar. Stupid Reno hadn't had the wits to check the laundry room where Vincent's and her soaked and soiled clothes had been piled, ready for washing. Fortunately, being the kind and generous person she was, Yuffie forgave the Turk's lack of foresight on the grounds that he and Red were in a life-threatening situation at the time. No one was perfect, after all.

However, Reno's imperfection had indirectly resulted in her having to dig her old, tattered puke-green duffel bag from the dredges of her closet where she often banished hapless clothing articles she didn't want to lay eyes on again. The relic from a time period when Yuffie was too young to care about toting around such a hideous piece of luggage sat open on her bed, permeating the immediate airspace with its odor of dust and age.

The bag's begrudging owner was elbow deep in her bureau of drawers, digging out spare orbs of Mastered materia from where she'd craftily hidden them in the folds of old, ugly sweaters she never wore. Though carrying so much materia often had adverse affects on a person's ability to take high amounts of damage, Yuffie would rather be safe than sorry, especially where her friends were concerned. She had noticed that some of the slots on the Turks' weapons were empty, a potentially hazardous situation her materia-hoarding abilities could easily rectify.

Yuffie wobbled her way over to the bed and dumped the glittering orbs of red, yellow, and green into her duffel before stepping back and examining its contents. Her tendency to pack light still served her well, as the lack of superfluous garments could certainly attest to. Despite her shortcomings, Yuffie never doubted her own ability to travel light.

Satisfied, Yuffie deftly zipped up the bag and slung it over her shoulder, the strap biting in her bare skin.

It was then that she realized that between packing a minimal amount of clothes and gathering enough materia to level a large city, she was still only a bra and pair of underwear away from running around in the buff. All that, and she had forgotten to get dressed!

"Gah! Stupid me!" she berated herself, flushing at the thought of going out to greet Vincent dressed, or rather, underdressed, as she was. Dropping the duffel onto the floor, she quickly dug a pair of shorts and a T-shirt out of her drawers and donned the garments in a jiffy. White slouch socks and a comfy pair of sneakers later, and she was ready to go.

Except for one thing. One place she had to visit before she met up with Vincent.

Yuffie quietly closed her bedroom door behind her and crept down the hall, but instead of going straight to the main area of the house, she turned down a hall that led to a place only the maids had no qualms about visiting.

Her mother's room.

Vincent had tried to protest kneeling on a futon with his clothes in the soggy state that they were, but Godo would hear none of it. "Really, Valentine," he had said, "I'm the Lord of Wutai. I have more futons than I could possibly need, but if it will put you at ease, that futon is one of the older, uglier ones. If it gets mildew, I'll have an excuse to throw it away. You'll be doing me a favor."

Quelling arguments through candid logic seemed to run in the Kisaragi family.

Vincent knelt on the old, ugly, mildew-inclined futon, sipping Wutainese green tea that was just as bitter on the tongue as it had been when the Turks used to make "diplomatic" visits during the war. Back then, Turks had doubled as diplomats and assassins. Polite mannerisms, a prim and proper appearance, smooth-talking skills, and a quick trigger finger were the four basic components required of a good Turk. Though Vincent had lacked in the smooth-talking area, his skill with a gun and cold, unflinching eyes had more than compensated in the eyes of Shinra.

It felt odd to sit in the futon across from the Wutainese leader, a place normally reserved for the Turk who took care of the talking and bargaining. Vincent had never been the diplomat. He was the one that sat behind the Turk leader, assessing everything with a calculating eye, observing others, spotting weaknesses and devising possible ways to exploit them. Until Wutai, the Turks had a long line of successful "diplomatic-execution" missions that usually resulted in the double triumph of striking profitable bargains and high-ranking enemy officials mysteriously disappearing either during, after, or before the Turks visit to the target city.

But Wutai broke the Turks' status as diplomats. Stealth ninjas. An impressive army. A shrewd leader.

In the end, only Vincent and two other Turks escaped Wutai with their lives. Their target, an advisor very close to the current Wutainese Lord, was dead, but on the wings of his death, the Turks were exposed as assassins. Fortunately, Shinra didn't have a problem with that. In fact, the portly tyrant laughed heartily as he claimed that now his ruthlessly efficient Turks could be who they were meant to be. Assassins and bodyguards. Lapdogs.

Godo stared at his visitor over the rim of his tea cup, and Vincent idly wondered if the man recognized him. If his timeline was correct, Godo could not have been more than a child during Vincent's short-lived visit in Wutai. The man hadn't shown any indication of recognizing Vincent during AVALANCHE's previous visits to Wutai, but the gunslinger's features were no longer shrouded by the folds of his cape. Maybe now, with his body and mind seasoned with the deadly spice of age, Godo would heed whispers of childhood memories that told him that there was an eerie familiarity to this outlandish man his daughter had brought home in the middle of the night.

"Can you not grip things with your left hand?" the Wutainese man suddenly asked, breaking the half-uneasy silence.

The abrupt and odd question made Vincent quirk a dark eyebrow. "I can, but I do not wish to scratch your teacup."

Godo nodded as if he had expected such a reply. "You are a considerate man, Valentine, if not a bit on the eccentric side."

The red-eyed man didn't know whether to take the words as a compliment or an insult. Like father, like daughter. Though Vincent would never in a thousand years tell Yuffie just how much like her father she was.

"My daughter runs with such an interesting bunch of people these days," the man said contemplatively, glancing idly over at an intricate painting of a flower-laden vine twining about itself, done entirely in platinum gold. It covered the entire left wall of the room, the dark paneling making the wall look like a chasm of pure darkness, guarded only by the gold and silver creepers.

"Some still think of AVALANCHE as terrorists, you know," Godo said, taking a sip of his tea. "And the Turks..." he turned his gaze back to Vincent, eyes carefully blank. "I know from first-hand experience that they are diplomats as well as liars and assassins. Though I hear the most recent developments have them solely serving as bodyguards."

"The Turks have a long, ugly history, my Lord," Vincent said politely. "One soaked in blood and laced with lies. Of course, one could also say the same for Wutai, a country riddled with the toils of war and then immersed in vapid commercialism."

Godo snorted. "You've been hanging around my daughter for far too long, Valentine." All feigned insult faded from his face, leaving him looking older, frailer than before. "And I hope you will continue to stay with her."

The gunslinger's gaze hardened, and he set his cup of tea on the tatami mat in front of him. "Why precisely did you bright me here, Lord Godo?"

The dark-haired man set his mug down with a near-silent sigh, rising slowly from his seat as if reluctant to abandon the softness of the floor cushion. Godo was a tall man, a trait he had not passed onto his diminutive daughter, but though some men wore their height like a shield of power and prestige, Godo resembled a towering mountain weary of trying to touch the heavens and failing each time. Vincent watched in silence as Godo walked over to the wall with the ornamental vines, the hem of his gray yukata moving around his ankles like wisps of smoke. He stopped in front of the wall, trailing his weathered hands along a silvery-gold shoot.

"I'm old, Valentine," he said suddenly. "I knew I would eventually start to feel the affects of my age. So disheartening in a man as vivacious as I used to be. Of course, my daughter is just as lively as I was in my younger years. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes," Vincent said politely, and found that he could easily imagine Godo overflowing with life, like Yuffie.

"Your face," Godo continued. "I know I've seen it somewhere before, and it was not a year ago when you came to Wutai in hot pursuit of the materia my daughter stole from you. You wore many coverings about your face then, but tonight, I can see your face clearly in my memories." His wandering hands stalled on a thorn protruding from the stem of a silver vine. "You wore a blue suit, and you came to bring unrest to my people."

Vincent didn't bother denying the accusation. "Yes, I did. Many years ago, I was a thief, and a murderer. A Turk."

"And now?" Godo asked sharply.

"I am...what I am. When I at last discover it, I shall let you know."

To his surprise, Godo laughed softly, glancing at Vincent over his shoulder. It wasn't a particularly friendly look, but it wasn't openly hostile either. "Then I'm asking you, Vincent Valentine, Turk or not, to please watch over my daughter."

Vincent was shaking his head without realizing it.

Godo lifted an eyebrow. "So quick to refuse?"

"You cannot ask this of me." _I don't want to be responsible for her. For what damages are wrought upon her body, or her heart._

"I know she is a handful, but I implore you. She will need support now more than ever."

"Explain," Vincent said flatly.

Godo turned back to the painting, and Vincent was once again distracted by the designs on his silken coat, gold embroidery dancing on a crimson background. That beast winding its way across the shoulders of the garment really did look like Chaos...

"More than anything," Godo said, voice heavy with resignation. "I wanted to spare my daughter from suffering the same fate as her mother, but it appears as if I am once again forced to stand helplessly as one of the ladies in my life is drawn towards an inevitable doom."

Though he had thought himself impervious to such things, Vincent felt a chill dance along his spine. Godo spoke as if Yuffie had been sentenced to death.

"How much do you know about Wutainese lineages, Valentine?" Godo said asked, voice almost conversational.

"Your bloodline is the Kisaragi-Chao line," Vincent answered automatically. "Direct descendants of Da-Chao himself, and the ruling family of Wutai. You are Lord of Wutai, and Yuffie will be Lady after you."

"Ah," Godo sighed melodramatically. "But who will be Lord to my daughter's Lady? Who will marry such a hard-to-tie-down girl? Oh, I grieve that Yuffie will not bless me with grandchildren before I die."

"Lord Godo," Vincent said warningly.

"Yes, yes," the man said dismissively. "Well, I'm sure you are familiar with Yuffie's defense tactic called the Clear Tranquil? Natural healing powers are rare, you know. I have none, nor did my father, or his father before him. Ayami, Yuffie's mother, had it in great abundance. I'm sure you've also noticed that Yuffie's features are not typical of the Wutainese."

"Was her mother not full-blooded Wutainese?"

Godo's dark gaze suddenly snapped to Vincent, quick and harsh as a striking viper. "My wife's blood was even purer than mine, I'll have you know."

"I spoke out of ignorance, Lord Godo, not contempt," Vincent said levelly.

Godo pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, yes, I know. Sorry, Valentine. You are not Wutainese. How could you have known that the purest Wutainese lines are those with Cetra blood in them?"

Vincent felt his eyebrows slowly lifting.

"So yes," Godo said. "Yuffie has the barest traces of Cetra blood flowing through her veins, just enough to give her the power to heal small injuries. She cannot speak with the Planet. Neither could her mother. But you see, the purity of Ayami's line bound her to a different fate. A fate that lies in the heart of the world, in the Emerald Mists."

"Emerald Mists?"

"It is what Ayami called them. To assuage my worries, most likely. You see, Ayami died when Yuffie was a child. We even had a ceremony for her at the temple, though Yuffie was probably too young to recall the details. But there was no body. Ayami was horribly mauled by a monster in the woods. That is what we told Yuffie when she begged to see her mother's face one last time."

Heaviness hung in the air after the words left Godo's mouth, and Vincent had the sudden urge to get up and leave, or lash out, anything to prevent the divulgence he knew was going to come.

Godo turned to face Vincent again, expression somber and eyes filled with deep pain. "But it was a lie. I lied to my daughter. I lied to my people. There was no body visible at the death ceremony because there simply was no body to bury. My wife, a skilled warrior maiden, didn't fall to a monster in the woods. She undertook a journey to the heart of the world, and there she battled with the Hungry One, the creature who wants to devour the world. Down in the center of the Planet, in the stomach of the Hungry One, is the final resting place of my wife and the mother of my only daughter."

* * *

_How many years has it been?_ Yuffie wondered. _Her perfume is still in the air. I can smell it. It makes me think of her._

"Mama, I came to see you," she murmured to the darkness. She could barely discern the shape of the dresser where her mother had always brushed her long hair until it shone like sunlit water while Yuffie watched from the warmth of the covers on the futon. Switching on the lights, Yuffie could see that the futon was neatly-made, the wood of the bureau shining as if it had just been polished. Even after all this time, she felt that if she laid down on the futon and went to sleep, her mother would be there to cajole her into waking.

But she knew it wouldn't be so. If she went to sleep on the futon, no one would be there to awaken her, except for the maids. Her father never ventured into this part of the house any longer. After his wife had died, Godo had relocated his room to the other side of the estate, far, far away from the room where the presence of his wife was still thick in the air like the smell of her soap after she showered. It must have been painful for him. Death was a common occurrence back in war-ridden times, but the death of the woman he had pledged his life to had undoubtedly wounded Godo far worse than the deaths of the thousands of Wutainese soldiers on the battlefield.

Godo had tried to protect Yuffie back then. She remained within the walls of their estate, in her room located far away from the house proper. There was only one way to get to her room, and a dozen ways to sneak out of it. She'd learned them all during the intrepidness of her early youth; she still knew them like the back of her hand.

Looking back, she realized what danger she'd been in. If Shinra had ever stormed the estate, Godo might have lost both his daughter and his wife. Or, Yuffie might have lost her father as well her mother. She'd never thought about it like that before. Godo was such a stubborn man. For some reason, she always thought he'd live forever.

But one day, her father was going to die. Just like her mother.

_What will I do then? I'll be Lady of Wutai. No more running around on adventures. No more AVALANCHE. No more materia-hunting._

Even as recent as a year ago, Yuffie hadn't grasped her responsibility as heiress to the sovereign nation of Wutai. It made her sad to think of abandoning her current lifestyle for that of a warrior-queen, dressing in flowing kimonos, speaking diplomatically, attending meetings and listening to the old crotchety elders yap and yap about inane things.

_Though I wouldn't mind the kimonos so much,_ she thought to herself as she crossed the room to where her mother's closet lay behind a sliding door decorated with white blooming flowers. _They look pretty, even if the wearer feels like they're going to pass out from asphyxiation. At least I'll look damn good when I suffocate._

The hinges of the door didn't even creak as she slid it open, the light from the room illuminating the many yards of silk hung neatly in the closet. Yuffie had only worn traditional kimonos once or twice as a child. If someone handed her all the necessary hunks of material now, she would probably just stare at them like a dumbass. Her father always said she was grossly unladylike for preferring to roll around in the dirt with sneakers and shorts instead of learning proper Wutainese manners. Yuffie always had a cheerful insult for him, but now she wished she had at least learned how to properly put on a kimono.

She reached out and touched the sleeve of one, noting how grimy her fingernails looked next to the pink fabric. Carefully, she took hold of the sleeve and held it out, the material rustling against its neighbors as Yuffie admired the green floral pattern at the end of the long sleeve. She had always been partial to green, and pink wasn't the ugly throwback of red and white that Yuffie had thought it was during her tomboy phase.

Sighing, she let the fabric fall and sat down on the floor, staring up at the kimono-laden bars above her. So many pretty blues, pinks, yellows, all of which had touched her mother's skin at one time or the other. Maybe one day, when Yuffie learned to wear them properly, she would try one on.

"I like your kimonos, Mama," she whispered to the closet. "Will you let me wear one eventually?" She laughed. "Well, I guess I'd have to get a bit taller, but maybe you weren't all that tall. You just seemed so because I was so little."

She poked at her shoelaces, winding the loop of one around her finger, and decided she wanted to keep talking since she felt her mother could somehow hear her. She needed a nonjudgmental ear right now.

"Bad things have been happening, Mama," she said. "Reeve was kidnapped. I was kidnapped. Reno had an emotional breakdown. Tifa is locked in a battle to the death with a Dawns' Fire Master. We all thought that style was dead, right Mama? It's exciting to know that there is still a Master, but too bad he's on the bad guys' side."

She tugged too hard on her shoelace and accidentally drew it out of its knot. As she busied herself retying it, she continued to confess her worries to her mother's kimonos. "Remember that song you used to sing to me? I never knew what it was about, but now...I think I'm starting to realize. That thing is still alive down there, isn't it? And that...that can't be good, right?"

_I have to kill it,_ she almost said, but it really wasn't her place to do such things, was it? How could she, a mere mortal, fight a fallen god? Silly her. Better not to think about it, at least not now.

Her finger abandoned her shoelace for the hard wooden sole of the one of the sandals lining the edges of the closet. Her mother's favorite pair, judging from the well-worn straps.

"I like a man," she suddenly blurted. "He's here right now, waiting in the entryway by the goldfish pond. His name is Vincent, and he's a lot older than me and has the whole 'mysterious, dark, and brooding' thing going on. But I still like him. I...really like him a lot. I know that he's done some bad things in the past – he had to have, I mean, he _was_ a Turk, after all – but who hasn't these days? I steal stuff all the time. But Vinnie has issues out the wazoo. Some crazy scientist from Shinra experimented on him, and now he turns into all sorts of boogeymonsters. And he used to love this lady named Lucrecia, but she died, and he blames himself for not helping her. Vincent blames himself for a lot of things that aren't really his fault. If he could get away with it, I think he'd blame himself for Meteor almost hitting the Planet."

She had the sandal in her hands now, gripping it tightly as she thought about the man who had just been a red-eyed weirdo a year ago and was now becoming the biggest part of her life. "But despite all that, I like him. My chest hurts when I think about him leaving us again."

_It makes me want to cry,_ she tried to say, but her throat and chest were constricted too tightly to do so.

"Anyways!" she said lightly, placing the abused sandal back in its rightful place. "I just wanted to tell you that. I think I need to get going now. I love you, Mama, and I wish you were here so I could see your face again. I miss you so much."

_I want you to tell me what to do. I want to hear you sing to me again. I want to hear your voice._

She quickly turned off all the lights and left the room before she could start crying.

* * *

"You must tell her," Vincent said.

Godo shook his head. "I cannot. Yuffie would be consumed with the need to avenge her mother's death, and I do not want to quicken her descent into the Emerald Mists."

Those words again. Emerald Mists. The spiral staircase in the deep sea complex suddenly came to mind, and then the attempt to rescue Yuffie when she was kidnapped. And all the while, that light was there. That foul emerald light that stank of fear.

"These mists you speak of...I believe I've seen them before. Or something like them."

"I know you have. I can tell when a person has been touched by the mists that bring terror to those that bask in them. They have already touched my daughter." Godo suddenly rubbed his temples as if to alleviate a sudden pain. "What am I to do with that girl? As much as we fight, I do not wish to lose my only child."

"It seems you know quite a lot about the things that currently plague us," Vincent said carefully, trying to decide how much information to divulge without bringing Godo into the fray. The last thing he wanted to do was unknowingly draw the assassins' attention to Yuffie's father. He decided to ask about one thing that had been needling him for a while. "What do you know of a man named Titus?"

The confusion in Godo's eyes was evident. "Nothing. I don't know as much as you may think. My wife was the one who knew it all, and for the sake of my own safety, she didn't wish to involve me in that part of her life. She always said there were things beneath the earth that were not meant to come to the surface, but if the day ever came when their world invaded ours, she wanted to know that Yuffie and I were safe."

"Why do you tell me all this, Lord Godo?" Vincent demanded. "Yuffie is the one who needs to know. She believes her mother is buried in the temple grounds. Why do you let her lay flowers and pray over an empty plot every single year?"

Godo's gaze hardened. "Need you remind me of that? I've already told you why I won't tell Yuffie. As for why I'm telling you, I want you to remain by her side. You strike me as very loyal, and very protective. You are water to her fire, and if you decide to tell her what I told you tonight, or if she somehow finds out on her own, you will need to douse the flame of grief and vengeance that will ignite inside her. Yuffie will not let the mystery of her mother's death go uninvestigated."

"Like you did?" Vincent asked coolly.

Anger flashed in Godo's eyes. "I swore an oath to my wife that I would not pursue if she met her death in the Emerald Mists, and that I would neither encourage nor deter Yuffie from falling to the same fate."

"I will make no such oaths to you, my Lord," Vincent said firmly, rising to his feet. "We are all slaves to fate."

To his surprise, Godo smiled. "So you say, but will you really abandon Yuffie to death knowing you could do something to stop it?"

Vincent stared back at him. Fight fate? Preposterous. But even as he contemplated the impossibility of such a feat, individuals came to mind, those who had battled against the own destinies and won. Or had they? Cloud Strife had been a servant of Jenova, a Sephiroth-clone, and he lived on today as his own person, but he still remained plagued by the pieces of himself that had been lost, the memories in his mind over-written by the memories of his best friend. Aeris Gainsborough, the last of the Cetra, had fallen to the sword of a madman while praying for the salvation of the Planet. If she'd known that was her destiny, would she have martyred herself for the sake a sick, decaying world? Knowing Aeris, she might have, but not everyone had a heart like hers. A heart of purest gold.

Quick footsteps came charning down the hallway a second before Yuffie Kisaragi flung open the doors, her dark glare searching for a victim and immediately finding it.

"Crazy old fart!" she exclaimed, pointing a finger at Godo. "You kidnapped Vinnie!"

"But of course," Godo said, taunting his daughter. "When my only daughter brings home a man, he must first pass _my_ inspection before you can even _consider_ marrying him!"

Yuffie flushed up to the roots of her hair. "Shut up, Dad! We're leaving now!" She marched into the room and grabbed Vincent by the wrist, dragging him towards the door.

"Oh, how rude," Godo sighed. "I don't even get to have tea with my daughter. Such a cruel girl."

Yuffie sent a glare in his direction, still tugging on Vincent's arm while the man walked behind her at an unhurried pace. "No way, José! Cloud will spank us if we don't make it back to Rocket Town before he gets his drunken ass out of bed."

"What unorthodox punishment," Godo commented blandly, adjusting his coat as it started to slip from his broad shoulders. "What are you waiting for? Get out of here, irresponsible girl."

"What?" Yuffie sputtered angrily at his admonishment. "Don't patronize me! I swear, you old coot, if I had my Conformer, your ass would be _mine_!"

"Yuffie, he was joking," Vincent said calmly.

"Yes, yes," Godo seconded. "Did you puke your sense of humor into the ocean on the way over here? Let me tell you, Valentine, when you go on your honeymoon with Yuffie, make sure not to take her overseas because she's sure to ruin the mood by throwing up all over the place. Why, I remember one time when she was little—"

"We're leaving!" Yuffie roared, grabbing both of Vincent's wrists and yanking him out the doors.

"Farewell," Godo said levelly, and though Yuffie was too beside herself with annoyance to hear the wistful note in his voice, Vincent easily caught onto it.

He glanced back at the aging man, the whites of his almond-shaped eyes almost luminous in the night-darkened room. "See you later, Valentine," Godo said enigmatically, half-turning to look at the decorations on the wall again.

The movement once again drew Vincent's attention to the warring shapes on his coat, and though Yuffie was still tugging on his wrist, he asked, "Lord Godo, what scene is depicted on your coat?"

The man blinked in surprise, holding out his arms so that the full sleeves of the coat fell past his knees, battling beasts locked in fierce combat with one another. "This? It is Wutainese doomsday. I believe everywhere else, they call it Ragnarok. The end of the world. You know something of it?" He turned his shoulders so Vincent could see the golden designs frozen on the crimson fabric.

It was Chaos. Vincent could see the demon's form as clear as day now, its wings unfurled over the shoulders of the coat, its long claws extended and ensconced in combat with a dragon-like beast. It looked happy, triumphant even.

Vincent turned away. "No, I know nothing of it."

He let Yuffie pull him the rest of the way out of the room. The girl called a rude goodbye to her father, which Godo returned easily. She slammed the doors shut behind them and stalked down the hall, still grumbling. Vincent followed with considerably more composure, his mind still trying to wrap around all that Godo had told him. He tried to imagine Yuffie doomed to death from the day of her birth, by a legacy handed down by her mother, and found that it made him sick. Better to deny her own name and denounce her family than to suffer such a fate, though he highly doubted she would feel the same way. By Wutainese standards, Yuffie was quite an unorthodox woman, but in her own fashion, she was as proud and honorable as the Wutainese soldiers that had valiantly battled Shinra's armies.

"My dad didn't say anything weird to you, did he?" Yuffie demanded, turning to Vincent with a half-worried, half-angry look on her face. "The old man likes to ramble. I think he's getting into his 'listen to me, young whippersnapper' phase."

"He's just lonely," Vincent countered. "Perhaps you should remain and have tea with your father. He's getting old, Yuffie."

The ninja swatted him on the shoulder, though her gray eyes were dark with deep emotion. "Don't remind me. I'll come back and have tea with him after we're done rescuing Reeve. It's not like he's gonna croak before all this is over."

_What if you do? What if you die, and Godo never gets a chance to bid farewell to his only child? Though I wonder if he's already said his goodbyes._

Vincent felt a deepening cloud of darkness settle over his mind. Did Yuffie even have the slightest clue about her fate? Did she know that Godo believed her mother's bloodline bound her to an irreversible fate? The girl had been rather secretive lately, ever since she had been rescued from her imprisonment underground by Titus' former cult. The heartbeat Vincent heard in the deep-sea complex. The green light. The Hungry One, Godo said, lived in the heart of the Planet. Yuffie's mother tried to kill it, and failed.

_Titus has to be the key. He must know how to put all the pieces of this puzzle together, and he's not saying._ At the moment, Vincent felt a deep, burning rage for the man that kept answers from those that needed to hear them the most.

His fury boiled underneath his skin like liquid fire, and quite suddenly, Vincent realized the emotion wasn't exclusively his own. Deep in his being, Chaos rolled with agitation, and the cedar wood of the floor and walls started to take on the sickly yellow of old bones, dusty and smelling of rotting things. Vincent's breath caught in his throat as once again he heard the crying of his sisters in the distance.

ANSWERS? YOU FEAR THE ANSWERS.

Vincent slammed the heel of his palm hard against his forehead, wishing he could reach into his skull and pull out the demonic voice that plagued him constantly. Pull it out and bash it against the wall until its head caved in and—

Chaos' laughter rumbled through his spirit even as its presence subsided until it was nothing more than a pulse of darkness on the edge of his consciousness, watching and waiting. Always there. When was it going to end?

"Vincent, what's wrong?" Yuffie asked, touching his arm, her callused fingers cool on his overheated flesh. "You're sweating like a pig."

"I'm fine," Vincent lied, pushing his hair back from his face and opening his eyes to find that the hallway had once again returned to normal. They had somehow reached the foyer, with the pond full of goldfish swimming merrily around in their brightly-lit waters, oblivious to the evilness of the man that stood not five feet away from their happy little pool.

Instead of arguing or persisting like he had expected, Yuffie just sighed. "Liar. Oh well, I guess I'll just wait for you to tell me what's wrong with you...or until my patience runs out and I get nosy again."

Vincent just stared at her, realizing that there was an unnaturally somber air about the usually vibrant girl. Nostalgia, no doubt. That was an emotion Vincent knew well, but it wasn't his nature to readily extend sympathy so he just remained as he was while Yuffie stooped to gather a pair of black ponchos she had presumably placed on the floor before she went to rescue Vincent from her father's clutches. She tossed one of the rubbery garments to Vincent, who noted that the poncho was uncomfortably shiny, which would make them prime targets for any sniper who wished to take a shot at them, though the chances of that were slim. He heard a hollow noise of dozens of tiny objects sliding against one another, and glanced at the brightly-colored bag Yuffie had in her hand.

"Cat food?" he asked.

She grinned at him. "In case we get hungry on the way back to Rocket Town."

Vincent stared in disbelief. Surely she wasn't...

Yuffie frowned, looking honestly perplexed. "What? You never ate dog or cat food when you were little? Damn, Vinnie, you missed out. Poor deprived child. The Original mix is my personal favorite."

"...Yuffie?"

"Haha, just kidding!" she exclaimed, swatting him on the shoulder with the bag, leaving the reek of dry kitty chow on his sleeve. "I had you going there, Vinnie! You totally believed my lying ass!"

"Who is the food for?" he asked.

Yuffie rolled her gray eyes as she threw the poncho over her shoulders with a dramatic swirl. "My cats. Duh."

Vincent put on the rain slicker, wincing internally at the loud, creaking material. Sneaking up on an opponent in this garment would be hopeless. "Surely you don't mean that house with the grossly large amount of felines?"

She kicked him lightly in the calf with her sneaker. "Don't call my cats gross, or I'll tell Mimi to pee on you! She's the calico with the bladder problem, just so you know."

Vincent knew the cat. Her bladder problem had manifested quite disgustingly on the tip of Barret's boot the last time they were in Wutai. Red had nearly gagged on the stench of fresh cat urine when he and Cait arrived to relieve the wartorn trio at the local materia shop.

Yuffie picked up a tattered green duffel bag from the floor and slung it diagonally across her chest, fussing with it until it was situated comfortably underneath her poncho. With the noisy bag of cat food under the other arm, she bore an uncanny resemblance to a pear or some other bottom-heavy object.

She smiled up at him, flipping the hood of the poncho over her head. "Ready, my faithful peon?"

"Who's a faithful peon?" Vincent deadpanned, pushing his tangled hair behind his neck before pulling up the hood of the shapeless garment.

Yuffie just laughed and opened the door, the sight of a dark and rainy night greeting them with a thunderous roar that seemed to shake the very floors of the Kisaragi estate. She chattered on and on about something or another as Vincent once again placed his feet into boots that were devoid of mud but soaked with rainwater. There was an odd, lifeless quality to her words, as if they were simply noise designed to fill an emptiness that followed her like a plague.

Wordlessly, he followed her back into the rain, letting her lead the way through mud ("Oh, GAWD!" she exclaimed. "More of this goddamn mud!") and deepening puddles of rain ("Hey, Vinnie, that one looks like a lake!") towards the direction of Wutai's entrance. Lights from shops and bars highlighted the rain-slick material plastered to her narrow shoulders, the dark, shapeless garment unable to disguise the slightness of her frame. Even though the poncho covered most of her legs, the calves he saw below the hem were slender and graceful from a combination of a lifetime of martial arts and the burgeoning grace of a woman's body. Every once in a while, she would turn to half-glance over her shoulder at him, the curve of her small nose and full lips starkly pale against the darkness of the poncho's hood.

He tried to imagine watching her back as she strode into a yawning cavern mouth with that horrible green light in the distance, mists of emerald swirling around her legs and that ghastly, echoing heartbeat resounding off the walls around her. He imagined her fear, and her courage as she went to fulfill the dark legacy her mother had left behind. He imagined being unable or too stubborn to follow as her figure grew smaller and smaller until it was eaten by the mists. And in her wake would be nothing but pure darkness that even his unnaturally acute vision couldn't pierce. A void of nothingness, as if her existence had been wiped clean by a mighty hand.

The image was so clear that for a moment he feared he was seeing the definite future, but Yuffie broke the horrible visage by turning and looking back at him.

"Vinnie, why are you dragging ass back there? Come walk beside me!"

He did.

--tbc


	42. Battle

**Chapter 40: Battle**

Cloud normally didn't say good morning to the world by making a mad dash for the toilet bowl, but when he woke up with sunlight trying to burn a hole in his eyes, he rolled onto his side to escape the scalding rays and promptly felt the contents of his stomach jump into the back of his throat. He still didn't know how he managed to avoid stepping on the sprawled bodies of his friends and fellow party-goers as he ran for the bathroom to puke his guts out.

Served him right, he supposed, as he stumbled out of the bathroom. What a cruel world it was when a savior of the Planet was punished just for having fun with his friends. He remembered drinking a truly heinous number of Blood Rains with Reno at the bar, Cid and the others arriving to join in, but everything after that was just a blurry haze of faces and jokes about liver damage and flatulence. The only other things that stuck in his mind were kangaroos, a telephone pole, and an angry Tifa.

Though he prayed the angry Tifa was only part of a liquor-y dream he'd had, he knew from the annoyance simmering in her eyes when he tottered into the kitchen that she very clearly disapproved of his irresponsible actions last night. He had half a mind to blame it on Reno, but since his partner-in-crime was seated miserably at the kitchen table, trying to choke down a measly piece of toast while flinching at every noise, Cloud just ducked his head shamefully, scratching at his tousled blond hair.

"Hey, Cloud, you best not have missed the toilet when you barfed your brains out just now," Cid said, looking annoyingly pain-free as he dug into a plate full of eggs and bacon.

"I didn't miss," Cloud muttered, looking warily at Tifa as she walked up to him, a tall glass with a familiar concoction in it. Cloud's stomach rolled with a mixture of dread and relief as he recognized her patented hangover remedy.

"I made it extra potent, just for you," she said dryly, shoving the glass into his bare hand.

"Thank you, Tifa," he said glumly. For a moment, he just stood there, holding the glass, but she waited in front of him, hands on her hips as she stared at him expectantly. Grimacing, he complied with the silent order and tilted the remedy into his mouth, nearly gagging on the pungent taste--too many Potions and other nameless herbs mixed into a sludgy paste that should never have come into existence.

He lowered the glass, still cringing, but Tifa's wearily affectionate smile made him feel way better than the hangover remedy. He gave her a weak smile in return and handed her the empty glass, the pounding in his skull already beginning to ebb.

"Hey, Tifa, how about giving me one of those?" Reno complained.

Tifa glanced at Cid. "Should I give him one now?"

"Nah, make him wait longer," Cid said good-naturedly, biting into a piece of greasy sausage. Beside him, Reno watched and started to turn a sickly shade of green.

"Why is Reno being punished?" Cloud asked Tifa quietly.

"Because," Red XIII said as he padded into the kitchen, "he also had a close encounter with the toilet this morning, but unlike you, he missed and made a mess."

"But I cleaned it," Reno insisted, looking away from Cid and his happy munching.

"Didn't do much for the smell," Red said sourly. "But I did not come in here to talk about vomiting. Cloud, Vincent and Yuffie are gone."

Cloud frowned. "Gone as in, 'went to the store' gone, or gone as in 'kidnapped' gone?"

Red scratched idly at one of his ears, and Cloud took the casual gesture as a sign that Red wasn't particularly worried. "I'm not sure. Two of the gold chocobos are missing, and I can only assume that they ventured off somewhere beyond the limits of Rocket Town. I went looking around the town, but I didn't find Vincent and Yuffie at the diner, the weapons shop, or any of the other stores."

Though obviously in the grips of a terrible hangover, Reno still had the strength to grin lecherously. "Did you check the hotel? Maybe they went off to a love nest together."

Cid tapped Reno on the shoulder. "C'mere, let me tell you somethin'."

"Wha--?" was all Reno managed to get out before Cid leaned over and burped loudly in his ear.

"Shit, that's f---ing gross!" Reno exclaimed, clutching his nose as he bowed over the table.

"Cid!" Tifa chastised.

"The stench..." Red gasped as he quickly trotted out of the room. Cloud took it as a blessing that he was on the other side of the room and didn't have a particularly acute sense of smell.

"That's for barfing all over the bathroom floor," Cid said smugly, smirking as he rose from the table and made his way over to the sink, depositing his dirty plate among the heaps of dishes already piled there. For a moment, he scratched his short blond hair, as if contemplating washing them before shrugging and leaving them as they were.

"Where is everyone else?" Cloud asked, glancing at the window, which was dotted only lightly with drizzle. Outside, the morning sky above Rocket Town looked gray and gloomy, but he could still see figures in rain slickers and jackets moving stubbornly about the town.

"Sleeping, showering, running errands," Tifa replied, bustling around the counter with deft hands, mixing together the ingredients for another of her remedies, presumably for Reno, who was still breathing very deeply into his hands.

"What's our battle plan?" Cid suddenly asked, a newly-lit cigarette already between his lips. "I'm gettin' antsy, sitting around and doing nothin' all day."

Tifa laughed. "Cid, it's only nine in the morning."

"Yeah, but that's already too long," Cid grumbled.

"Strife," Titus suddenly called from behind him.

Frowning, Cloud glanced over his shoulder at the man handcuffed to the radiator, hunkered to one side of it like a dark shadow. From this angle, only his legs were visible, and Cloud briefly wondered if he had imagined the summons, but judging from Cid's dark scowl and Tifa's worried brow, that wasn't the case. Wordlessly, he made his way into the living room, eyes idly scanning around for Fa-Li and finding the woman curled next to the fireplace, her left hand bound to the small, ornamental metal bar Cid had built into the wall to hold the poker in place. She had exchanged her leather bodysuit for pale blue sweatpants and matching hooded jacket, the garments obviously loaned to her by a very generous Shera. The pastel color made the woman's exotically beautiful features look surprisingly soft, but it didn't dim the wariness in her eyes as she watched Cloud approach.

Titus hadn't bothered with a new set of clothes. His black pants and jacket were just as dark as ever, his green eyes just as brilliant as they stared up at Cloud from beneath pale, level brows.

"What do you want?" Cloud demanded, fighting very hard not to avert his gaze.

"I just wanted to tell you that the President of Neo-Shinra is a good man, but it seems that despite all efforts to let him go peacefully, mercy was determined not to grant him reprieve."

Cloud felt his eyebrows draw together in a tense scowl. "Look, Titus, stop the cryptic stuff. If you have something to tell me, just do it."

Titus just stared at him as the phone trilled loudly in the kitchen. His green eyes flicked apathetically in that direction, and Cloud felt the first ripples of unease begin to tighten his shoulders. His eyes remained on Titus, but all his attention was on the one-sided conversation Cid was having with the person on the other end of the phone.

"Yeah... Speak up, man, I can't hear ya with all the static... Yeah... No, this is Cid Highwind... The hell ya need to talk to Cloud for?"

Cloud turned away from Titus and stalked into the kitchen, coming up behind Cid. The man turned and lifted an eyebrow, offering him the receiver. "Some guy asking for ya. Sounds familiar, but there's a shitload of static."

Heart thudding in his chest, Cloud put the receiver to his ear, hearing nothing but a low hum of static on the other side. "This is Cloud Strife."

The static intensified, but through the hair-raising crackling, he heard the words, "...Strife... Campbell in Mideel... hear me?"

"Doctor Campbell?" he repeated. "I can barely hear you."

"...is here… has… poisoning."

Cloud clamped his hand over his opposite ear, turning his back on the worried faces of Tifa and the others. "Can you please repeat that?"

"Reeve... Mako…"

Though the connection was still horribly static-filled, even Cloud's sleep-and-alcohol-muddled brain could piece together what the doctor was trying to tell him: _Reeve is here. He has Mako poisoning. _

Cloud's skin was cold, but the blood ran hot in his ears, filling his body with a warm surge of growing fury. "I understand, doctor. We'll be heading down to Mideel as soon as possible."

"Hurry," the doctor's voice came in a crackling rush. "...seeing you."

Interpreting that as a goodbye, Cloud set the receiver back on the ringer a bit too heavily. Without turning around to face the others, he said, "Ready the Highwind and gather everyone. We're going to Mideel."

"Strife," Reno said sharply, and Cloud didn't have to ask what the Turk was demanding.

"Reeve is in Mideel," Cloud said shortly.

"Reeve?" Reno echoed incredulously. "What the hell?"

"I'll tell you when we're on the move. Now let's just hurry and get ready."

No one moved.

"_Now_," he snapped, still hunched over the phone cradle, not wanting to show his angry face in front of the others. If Cid and Reno saw, they would grow angry as well, and their rage would spread to the others until it ripped through their whole wartorn band like a wildfire blazing out of control. Besides, he didn't want them to know about what Titus had told him. If the Turks thought that the Running Man was responsible for hurting their President... Cloud was in no mood to try and keep them from shedding blood unnecessarily.

Fortunately, Tifa, Cid, and Reno all scattered at Cloud's curt, clipped order. He felt their eyes on him as they left the kitchen, but he didn't meet their gazes. He knew he owed them a full explanation, but he couldn't do it with the blood boiling in his veins like this. Mako poisoning. Of all things, why that? And how?

Of course, Cloud knew the how. As soon as Reno and Cid were out of earshot, he stalked over to Titus and stood over him, letting his shadow loom over his seated figure and wishing the darkness would suffocate the life out of him. Titus only looked at him, jewel-like eyes indifferent.

"You put him in the Lifestream, didn't you?" Cloud hissed.

Silence.

"Why?" Cloud demanded, fighting not to let his voice rise. "Why do that? Why didn't you just kill him? He has... he has..."

"Mako poisoning," Titus finished in a low, emotionless voice. "So I heard. That is unfortunate."

Cloud's fingers itched to grab hold of Titus' collar and shake a reaction out of him. Anything would do, any shred of emotion, a hint of regret or remorse for what he'd done to a man who had helped save and rebuild the Planet. He clenched his fists instead, aware of Red watching him from the hallway.

Gritting his teeth, Cloud forced himself to turn his back on Titus and walk away. Tifa came out of the hallway just as he stepped from the living room.

"What are we going to do about Yuffie and Vincent?" she asked quietly, noting the fury in Cloud's blue eyes.

"I hate to say it, but tough luck," Cloud said flatly. "We need to get over to Mideel."

"We can't just leave them behind," Tifa protested.

"Shera knows where we're going. She'll tell them when they get back, and they'll just have to find their own way to Mideel."

* * *

Yuffie made a gagging noise into Zoe's wet feathers, fighting down the vomit that kept trying to rise into her throat as the waves did their nauseating little dance underneath the chocobo's clawed feet.

"I'm sick and miserable," she complained, almost inhaling a feather as she spoke.

"I know," Vincent said, not sounding sympathetic at all. Of course, if she'd had to steer Vincent's seasick ass across the churning sea while trying to maintain control of her own chocobo, she wouldn't be oozing sympathy either.

"I don't know why I'm getting sick now," she continued, figuring that as long as she was talking, it would distract her from the sensation of her stomach's contents rolling like a pig in the mud. "I was fine on the way to Wutai. Don't know why I feel like... puking... now. Urgh!"

Zoe warked in dismay as Yuffie leaned to the side, holding onto the edge of the saddle for balance as she dry-heaved, coughing up nothing but still feeling like shit after she was done. She'd emptied most of her dinner a few miles off the Wutainese shore when a giant wave had roared up in front of her and Vincent. Instead of bracing for impact like a normal chocobo, Zoe's higher breeding had somehow told her that it would be a good idea to run _through_ the goddamn wave. As soon as she could draw a full breath of air, Yuffie had thrown up. In front of Vincent, too. Fortunately, he hadn't gone "ew!" or made any snide remarks. That was the good thing about Vincent: you could do some embarrassing things in front of him, and he rarely ever commented on it. All he did was gently take the reins out of her grip and bring his chocobo alongside hers to guide her through the rainy night on the ocean.

Dawn had broken an hour ago, but thanks to the crappy weather and high waves, they were forced to move at a snail's pace. Yuffie was sure someone had noticed that she and Vincent were missing by now. Hell, she'd be insulted if they hadn't! Reno was probably making lewd jokes about them running off to engage in naughty activities. Not that Yuffie would ever engage in such debauchery. Of course not. No way.

She groaned as Vincent urged the chocobos into a fast trot to scale a wave before it could rise any higher. Yuffie felt like someone had stuffed her into a dryer and put it on the fastest setting. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and waited for level ground to return. She'd be happy if she never saw the damn ocean again.

"Vincent," she moaned.

"Yes?"

"How far away are we?"

"It won't be long, Yuffie."

She sighed. "Distract me, Vincent."

"Just concentrate on the rain hitting your clothes," he suggested dryly. "I'm afraid I'm all out of distractions at the moment. Unless you want to drown when a wave hits us."

"Don't be melodramatic," she scolded. "The waves aren't as bad right now, and my need to puke hasn't been consistent. Just talk to me, or something. Tell me a story, one that your mama used to tell you."

"My mother was not one for stories."

"Just talk, Vincent," she said, trying not to sound desperate as her stomach heaved again. "Hey, weren't you going to tell me about the Brother of Battle?"

"You remembered that?" Vincent asked, sounding mildly surprised.

"Yeah, yeah," she said hurriedly, grasping her opening. "Tell me, tell me. I wait with bated breath." _And vomit in the back of my throat._

After a moment, Vincent said somewhat reluctantly, "Very well. I'm afraid it's not a very long tale. I don't quite remember all the details, either. It's really just a piece of our local folklore. When I was a child, I lived in a village high in the mountains. The soil there was very dark, but there was one large area of land deep in the forests that had red soil. Whenever it would rain, the mud there would stain any passing travelers' feet the deep red-brown of dried blood. My sisters told me that there was once a pair of great warriors amongst our people, back during the time of the Ancients. A brother and a sister renowned for their great skill in protecting the village from evil. The sister was named Battle, and it's said that she died on that patch of naked land in the woods where the soil is red and the trees never grow. She had told her brother that wherever she fell when she died--that was where she wished to remain, rather than become just one corpse amongst many in the village's traditional burial ground. So, there she fell, and there she remained. Her blood seeped into the earth, turning it deep red.

"But Battle's brother still lived on after her death. Not wanting to be separated from the sister he had loved so dearly, he lived on the land where Battle had fallen. There are a few disturbing versions of the story that say he literally lived off the earth that Battle's blood had soaked into, growing food in soil soaked with his sister's blood. Then, he just disappeared. No one knows if he died, or if he somehow passed into a different plain of existence. But his spirit stayed at his sister's side. Wherever there is bloodshed between fighters, Battle's warrior spirit is there, and so is her brother. They are never apart, and every cut and bruise that mars the skin of a female warrior is a kiss from the Brother of Battle."

"Just the women?" Yuffie asked, her nausea briefly lulled by Vincent's voice.

"So the tale goes," he replied. "For all I know, it's just a myth."

"Myth or not, the Brother of Battle is into the tough love. Someone should let him know that sometimes he's a bit overzealous with his affection."

"Perhaps he is just hungry for the presence of a woman."

Although Vincent said the comment in his usual impassive tone, Yuffie still lifted her face from Zoe's feathers and glanced at him with mild curiosity, wondering if he was attempting to make a joke or just thinking out loud. His face was almost lost beneath the hood of his rain slicker, his white skin standing in stark contrast to the black material, wayward strands of dark hair clinging to the dampness on his face.

"Well, I can get that, I guess. He has to get his kicks somehow," she said with a sigh, thinking of the huge shiner she'd had on her cheek when the Faceless Man had slammed his rifle into her face back in the deep sea complex. Stupid faceless freak.

"So," she said as casually as possible, "you lived up in the mountains when you were little?"

"Yes," he said, and she could feel him starting to withdraw, obviously trying to discourage further questions. Fortunately, Yuffie was known to fart in the face of discouragement. Besides, Vincent hadn't shut down completely like he had during the previous times she'd tried to cajole bits of his past out of him. That had to be something, right?

"How long ago did you live up there?" she insisted.

"Before your father was born," he replied, crimson eyes turning in her direction, watching intently for something--some hint of revulsion, maybe, or shock, that he was older than her father.

Well, Yuffie was going to disappoint him. She'd always suspected that Vincent was an old fart despite his young appearance, and she grinned even as raindrops rolled down her face. "I guess that explains why you act and sound like an old fuddy duddy sometimes."

Vincent frowned. "I'm realistic. I never considered myself particularly... fuddy duddy-ish."

The words sounded so ridiculous when Vincent said them in his deep, daunting, "woe to me" voice that Yuffie had to laugh. "Ah, Vinnie, you're such a trip! Your sisters must have loved you a lot."

Vincent turned away again, facing forward. "They did. And before you ask, I don't want to talk about them."

"I didn't ask," she grumped.

"But you were going to," he said, and she couldn't argue. But she was really, really damn curious about his past, especially since she knew her old tooter of a father had to have told Vincent some embarrassing stories from _her_ childhood when they'd had their little impromptu tea party. It was only fair that Yuffie got to know some things about Vincent! She wondered what it had been like to have siblings. Yuffie always thought of her friends as an extended family, but she had spent a lonely portion of her childhood wondering what her life would have been like if she'd had brothers and sisters related to her by blood. But then she imagined some little bratty brother stealing all of her treasures, or some older, elegant sister chiding Yuffie for her tomboyish nature, and she was grateful that she was an only child.

But, glancing at Vincent, she couldn't help but wonder what his sisters had looked like. Had they been as beautiful as Vincent was handsome, with the same dark hair and long limbs? Had they--

"You're staring at me and asking yourself questions, aren't you?" he suddenly asked, pinning her with an intent look that made her feel like he could stare right into her head.

"No!" she exclaimed hotly. Vincent nodded and looked away, but she saw amusement on his face, silently accusing her of being full of crap. She had the childish urge to stick her tongue out at his profile, but she wisely stifled the impulse.

"Land," Vincent said suddenly, sitting up a little straighter in the saddle. Zoe felt the tug on her reins and drew herself up, feathers shifting out of Yuffie's death grip. Yuffie glanced in the direction of Vincent's gaze and saw that he was right. The vision of the shores of Rocket Town was the damn loveliest thing she'd seen in her life, almost as gorgeous as a whole bagful of materia. Almost.

"Wow, Vinnie, you should tell me stories more often," she joked, catching Zoe's reins as Vincent tossed them back to her. "I completely forgot to charm you by puking into the ocean again."

"Glad I could service you," he said. "Now, let's get going."

_"Service me"?_ Yuffie's mind echoed. _What the hell am I, a buggy?_

Vincent flicked Quinn's reins before Yuffie to could reply, and she had no choice but to urge Zoe into a run. Nausea reared in her stomach, but she fought it down, speeding towards the shore. They didn't bother to decrease their speed as the talons of the chocobos touched the soggy sand of the shore, spurred by a strange urgency they felt in their very bones. Rocket Town felt oddly empty as they approached the city limits, and Yuffie had the nagging notion that something was wrong. She could only assume Vincent shared her instincts, because when she glanced at him with a worried and uncertain expression, he looked back at her with his mouth in a grim line. Anyone else might have thought that was how he normally looked, but she knew better.

Yuffie leaned forward in the saddle, the last lingering traces of nausea gone as Zoe's speed increased, Quinn fighting to keep up with her taxing pace. They didn't even bother to head to the chocobo barn to deposit the weary birds amongst their brethren. They rode right up to the front steps of Cid's house and hopped off the saddles almost before the chocobos had drawn to a complete halt. Zoe warked in dismay as the sudden shift in Yuffie's weight made her veer slightly to the side, but the gold quickly corrected her balance. Yuffie raced up the steps with Vincent at her heels, grimly noting the absence of Red XIII on his usual perch on the porch.

She wasn't surprised when she barged through the front door to find the house empty except for Shera's lonely figure washing dishes in the kitchen sink, her glasses perched on her nose and her hair in a no-nonsense ponytail. She whirled, a preoccupied expression off her face when she saw Vincent and Yuffie in the doorway.

"They took off to Mideel," she said quickly, just as Yuffie opened her mouth to demand where the others were. "The doctor down there said that he found Reeve."

"All the way in Mideel?" Yuffie demanded incredulously, deep worry blooming where relief should have taken root. "The last time someone popped up in Mideel..." _Cloud washed up there with Mako poisoning._

Her voice trailed off, drowned in her growing horror, but Vincent finished her sentence in a flat tone, "The Lifestream. I suspect Titus' involvement in this."

Yuffie almost whirled to snap at him for jumping to conclusions, but she bit her tongue when she realized that he was probably right. Titus' former favorite hangout was deep in the earth, very likely close to the Lifestream, and Yuffie wouldn't put it past him to have dumped Reeve in there just to be an ass. Part of her wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but a larger part of her wanted to find Titus and kick his ass all the way to the Chocobo Ranch and back. Just in case.

"They took your things with them," Shera said. "I know they didn't want to leave you behind, but..."

"But they did, those jerks!" Yuffie exclaimed, needing an outlet for her anger. She whirled and stalked out the door. "I'm going after them!"

"Thank you, Shera," she heard Vincent say, his polite but strained voice making Yuffie freeze in mid-stomp. Chiding herself for forgetting her manners, she turned again and barged back through the doorway, almost knocking Vincent over. She bowed to Shera and said, "Thanks for everything."

Shera blinked in surprise before nodding. "Please call and let me know how Reeve is."

"We will! I'm sure he's fine!" Yuffie said with conviction she didn't really feel. The gravity of the situation was starting to dawn on her, and she was desperately fighting back images of Reeve in the grips of the same Mako poisoning that had managed to dull even the light in Cloud's bright blue eyes, stealing his sanity, stealing _him_.

She couldn't help herself from thinking darkly, _Reeve's body is weaker than Cloud's, and after being kidnapped and tortured, he'd be weak in the mind as well..._

With one last nod to Shera, she turned and ran back out onto the porch, hopping into Zoe's saddle in such a hurry that the gold chocobo turned her head to see what had her rider so agitated. Vincent had already taken off when Shera rushed out onto the porch, her hands still wet with dishwater.

"Ride fast," she pleaded.

"Don't worry," Yuffie said, trying to force a smile that probably came out looking more like a grimace.

It didn't take her and Zoe long to catch up to Vincent, and before she knew it, they were tearing through the outskirts of Rocket Town, the chocobos' talons sinking into the soft earth. Yuffie stared at the place the Highwind had hovered, her heart twisting painfully in her chest when she saw the empty sky. She was annoyed at being left behind, but she understood Cloud's decision. But still...

"Cloud's an ass for leaving us behind," she snarled.

"If I were him, I would have made the same decision," Vincent said curtly. "We ran off without telling anyone, and a leader should not let the whims of two subordinates affect the rest of the team."

Yuffie gritted her teeth, not knowing if it was honesty or simple politeness that made Vincent use "we." _She_ had been the one who'd run off without letting anyone know, and he'd only followed to make sure she didn't get kidnapped. She wanted to be insulted that he didn't trust her to take care of herself, but then again, she didn't have a great track record of avoiding kidnappers. In the end, she kept a lid on her anger, knowing that she was only pissed off at the nagging thought that it was her fault they got left behind. Which was stupid, but...

"I shouldn't have run off by myself," she said sullenly, wishing there was a way to kick herself hard in the ass.

"No, you shouldn't have," Vincent replied. "But at least we got left behind together, rather than just you being left behind alone."

Yuffie glared at him out of the corner of her eye, holding tight to Zoe's reins as the chocobo continued to race along. "Are you just being nice?"

Vincent gave her a droll look. "No, merely being an old fuddy duddy."

Yuffie almost laughed at that, but she didn't have any laughter in her at the moment. "I can take care of myself, you know."

"Yes, you've told me that before."

"Then why don't you listen?"

"Because I choose not to," he said simply.

"That answer sucks, Vinnie," she grumbled.

"Only because you can't argue with it."

She couldn't, although she wanted to continue arguing just for the sake of distracting herself. She had to admit that running through the rain with Vincent was better than running by herself. At least she had someone to grumble at, even if Vincent had become annoyingly adept at returning her banter.

A low rumbling suddenly shook the earth beneath them, too quiet and constant to be thunder. Zoe warked with concern but knew better than to slow her pace, and Yuffie quickly began scanning the area, reaching down to her belt to touch the comforting metal of the Oritsuru and wishing she'd brought her Conformer to Wutai. "What the hell is that?"

Vincent didn't reply, but she saw he had the Death Penalty held at the ready, the hood of the rain slicker pushed back so he wasn't robbed of his peripheral vision. Yuffie started to do the same, but the rumbling suddenly intensified, and she heard the distinct noise of air screaming in protest as something large raced through it. She looked up and had to blink twice before she could believe what she was seeing. For a moment, she thought she had water droplets in her eyes. That would explain the shimmering wave of disturbance blazing through the air far above her, but it was too contained, moving with too much purpose to be a fleck of water marring her vision.

"Is that...?"

"It's hovercraft of some sort," Vincent replied. "It has a cloaking device on it."

Yuffie squinted, and she could see that the cloaking device just applied to the ship, not the people on board. As it shot through the air above them at breakneck speed, she was grateful for the shadow cast by the mountain they were running along, hiding them from view. Especially once she recognized the craft's passengers.

"Oh shit!" she exclaimed, not bothering to lower her voice. The passengers were too high up and too far ahead to hear her now. God damn it! They were going to get to Mideel way ahead of her and Vincent!

"Jezebel and Montana," Vincent said grimly, lowering himself until he was practically lying on Quinn's neck, making himself as small as possible to decrease wind resistance. "I didn't want to run the chocobos this hard, but..."

"They're tough. They can take it," Yuffie said tersely, fighting against rising panic. "How the hell did Jezebel and Montana know to go to Mideel?"

"We aren't sure they're heading there."

"Yes, we are! They're after Titus! Where else would they be going?" she snapped, and she could tell from the look in Vincent's eyes that he agreed with her. She wished he didn't. Tifa wasn't anywhere near healed yet, and Yuffie knew she wouldn't hesitate to get in Montana's way again. Yuffie felt her chest tighten at the thought of not being there to help her friend. Deep down, she knew that she and Vincent wouldn't make much difference in a battle against Jezebel and Montana, but in her mind, being there with AVALANCHE was a huge deal. But, she wasn't there with them because they'd flown off to Mideel because _someone_ had done something nasty to Reeve...

_If Titus has something to do with this,_ she thought to herself, _forget kicking his ass all the way to the Chocobo Ranch. I'll strangle him to death with my bare hands._

* * *

"What I want to know is what f---ing motherf---er decided to build this godforsaken village way the f--- out here in the middle of the goddamn jungle! Can't get where we want to go because we can't land in the trees! Goddamn piece of--"

Like everyone else in the Highwind, Tifa dutifully ignored Cid's angry ranting about the location of Mideel. He'd been cursing under his breath ever since they'd left Rocket Town, and Tifa couldn't say she blamed him. The news that Reeve had turned up in Mideel had everyone wound in knots, but it was evident from the dark anger on Cloud's face that something was terribly wrong. Even though he'd said he'd tell them more once they were on their way, he had done completely the opposite, clamming up and just insisting on getting their as soon as possible whenever someone badgered him to explain further. Reno had eventually thrown up his arms in disgust and stormed out to the deck of the airship to be closer to the ladder when they reached their destination. Cid and Barret obviously wanted to ask more questions, but Cloud's expression forbade anyone to get near him, which only pissed off Cid. Hence, the constant swearing.

Tifa glanced over at the front of the Highwind where Cloud stood with his arms folded over his chest, glaring out of the cockpit's windows with such vehemence that it was amazing he hadn't burned a hole in the glass. She could tell Cloud was trying very hard to keep a lid on his anger, and although she wanted to go over there and talk to him, touch him--anything to bring him back to them--she stayed where she was, gazing out over the ocean and ignoring the worry eating at her.

"Shu'up!" Barret finally exploded at Cid. "Quit your goddamn bitchin'! Ever think it might be the fault of this ghetto-ass airship that we can't land in the trees?"

"Go to hell!" Cid snarled back. "Ain't nothing wrong with my ship! They should just build a landing strip in the--"

Tifa didn't hear Titus come up behind her, and she didn't know if it was because of Cid and Barret's raised voices, or simply because Titus was unnaturally quiet even when wearing heavy combat boots. She jumped a little when she suddenly found him standing beside her at the railing, the cold gray light of the morning making his skin and hair paler than usual. His eyes stood out in stark contrast, green irises alight with the distant reflection of the Lifestream that had ruined Mideel, which could be seen even from the air. Beyond his regal profile, Tifa could see Cloud staring at Titus, his blue eyes warm with rage. Tifa frowned, realizing that whatever had Cloud so angry had something to do with the man beside her...

Titus suddenly turned to look at her, eyes catching hers, and everything seemed to fall quiet. The sound of Barret and Cid's escalating argument was muted, distant as a dream, and Tifa forgot all about the meaningful anger in Cloud's eyes. The air felt soft and thick, surrounding her like the smell of her mother's soap lingering in the moist air of the bathroom after she showered. Tifa remembered standing in those wreaths of warm fragrance, watching as her mother dried her damp hair. The memory soothed her, but she knew it was so very wrong to feel placated at a time like this.

She opened her mouth to demand that Titus stop whatever spell he was weaving, but a hand seemed to close around her throat, stopping her voice from leaving her lips.

"No time for words," Titus said, his voice only meant for the two of them. She felt it all along her body, in her head. He was everywhere. "If you are to be my defender, I can't very well leave you damaged."

He raised one of his hands, and Tifa saw with a sort of distant shock that his handcuffs dangled from one wrist only. All this time, he'd been able to free himself, and they'd been none the wiser. The orb embedded into the back of his hand flashed with a light of its own, a blue-violet storm building in its depths, swirling like captive smoke beneath the glassy surface. He turned it towards her, and her eyes followed it helplessly, hypnotized by the cloud-like wisps dancing inside of it. Suddenly, she had the impression that there were actual dancers in there, temptresses shrouded in robes that hid their faces as their limbs moved through the air. They danced in a lake of deep purple flames, and Tifa could feel the heat of their fiery stage on her stomach, itching and burning. She wanted to raise her hands to scratch the area, but her limbs were too heavy, too sluggish. Her mind started to slip towards the orb, and she let it. Down she fell, plummeting towards the wreaths of dark fire to join the smoke-dancers...

The Highwind suddenly landed artlessly on the shores of Mideel, and Tifa blinked rapidly, a little disoriented as she automatically gripped the railing. Beside her, Titus did the same, the chain link of his handcuffs clinking against the metal bar. She looked at him warily, for some reason convinced that he had just done something strange, that he had been standing next to her for a reason. If only she could remember...

"Let's go," Cloud said tersely, his voice carrying even in the large room. "Cid, Barrett, keep Titus close to you. Make sure he doesn't get away."

"Some of us should remain with the Highwind," Red said reluctantly, deferring to his tactical prudence but obviously not wanting to be the one to stay behind.

Cloud nodded stiffly. "Yeah, someone should, but I'm not going to ask anyone to. We've all been searching for Reeve for so long, and I know..." His voice trailed off, and Tifa saw his jaw bulge as he grit his teeth, closing his eyes as if he didn't want them to see the frustration and anger that was obviously plaguing him.

Finally, he said in a tight voice, "Whoever wants to stay, feel free to."

Red and Cait Sith were the only ones who volunteered, more out of a sense of, "Well, if someone has to do it, I suppose we will," than any real desire to remain behind. Tifa didn't blame them. Everyone wanted to see Reeve. Cait looked forlorn as he watched them clamber down the rope ladder, but Tifa trusted both him and Red to protect the ship. Tifa spared an idle thought about what Fa-Li intended to do: remain on the ship and away from Reno, or head into the fray at Titus' side. She got her answer when she saw the woman descending the rope ladder with amazing agility for someone who couldn't move her hands. To her surprise, Cloud didn't protest the woman's presence, just signaled for Barrett and Cid to watch her as well.

Fortunately, Fa-Li appeared to be very low on Reno's list of worries at the moment. The redhead had taken off towards the edge of the jungle as soon as his feet hit the sand, and Elena and Rude followed closely behind him, obviously anxious to get to their president as soon as possible. Cloud didn't bother to rein them in, just rushed across the beach to join them, allowing the Turks to blaze a trail through the damp jungle as they struck out for Mideel.

Under different circumstances, Tifa would have admired the way the lush greenery shimmered with standing raindrops, or stopped to examine the huge pink and yellow flowers that remained open in spite of the recent torrential downpours and depressing lack of sunlight. But now the scenery was just a blur of bright colors all around her, perfumed with the thick aroma of wet, rich soil, which clung to her boots as she fought to keep up with the group's taxing pace. She kept hoping that Vincent and Yuffie would come bounding out of the jungle on their gold chocobos--Vincent stony-faced and Yuffie snarling at them for leaving them behind--but their surroundings remained woefully silent except for the rustling of enemies in the bushes, apparently too wet and miserable to attack the humans passing like a wildfire through the jungle.

_Or maybe something else is wrong?_ Tifa wondered, glancing at the gleaming eyes of a Spiral glaring out at her from the shadow of a tall tree; the creature was obviously hungry but unwilling to move, for some reason.

No more than a minute later, Tifa learned the reason for the creature's fear. The earth began to rumble beneath them, forcing everyone to come to a halt. Tifa started to glance at the earth beneath her boots, wondering if the Planet was angry at something, but then the trees above her were whipped into a violent frenzy by something hovering above them. Leaves, already burdened by water, rained heavily down on them.

"What the hell!" Reno exclaimed, sounding more annoyed than frightened, his nightstick already out. His crimson ponytail lashed the air behind him like a twisting viper, and Tifa felt her hair doing the same, her bangs blown back from her forehead as she turned her gaze skyward.

"What's up there?" Cloud demanded, gripping the hilt of the Ultima Weapon.

"Some old friends," Titus' voice drifted from behind them.

Tifa and Cloud both whirled to look at him, standing calmly between the battle-ready Barret and the nervous Fa-Li. His eyes met Tifa's, and she suddenly knew what he was talking about. "You don't mean...?"

"You know who's up there," he said ominously.

The sound of leaves crackling drew her attention back to the treetops, and everyone watched as a peculiar rectangle of wavering air descended into the jungle, vaporizing everything in its downward path. Leaves and wood alike dissolved into nothing but dust, scattering into the wind and stinging Tifa's eyes as she fought to make sense of what she was seeing. At first she thought she was looking at some sort of airship with an invisibility cloak, but as it drew closer, she saw it was more the size of a hovercraft, a vessel just big enough to seat two people. From her vantage point, she could see no obvious steering mechanism, but she wasn't surprised that one wasn't required, especially given the two passengers on board.

Unconsciously, Tifa lifted her hand and pressed it against the bandages covering her stomach, expecting to feel a burst of pain from the burn on her skin, a little reminder of just who she was dealing with. But to her surprise, she felt nothing. Shock broke through her growing haze of fear, and she scratched at the bandages with a gloved hand, waiting for agony to blind her as her fingers chafed the skin underneath. Nothing. Her first thought was that the adrenaline in her veins had somehow made her numb to pain, but something told her that wasn't true. With sudden vehemence, she ripped away the bandages, and as the cloth got caught in the lashing wind and floated away from her body in streams, she stared with wide eyes down at her smooth, completely healed stomach.

She whipped around, her eyes seeking out the one person who had had any sort of idea on how to heal the burn. Titus met her gaze levelly, something like a smile playing on his lips, so faint that Tifa could convince herself it wasn't even there.

"What did you do?" she demanded, the wind ripping away her voice, but she knew he could hear her.

Titus definitely smiled, the expression oddly bitter. Tifa stared at him, remembering his words: _ i "Cetra curative magic would be the only outside force that could heal this burn in such a short period of time..."  
_

Her jaw threatened to drop as she stared into his too-familiar green eyes, but a tremor ran through the ground, and she forced herself to turn forward again, dreading what she'd find. She was right to fear. Jezebel and Montana stood on the floor of their hovercraft, their hair and clothes annoyingly undisturbed by the whirlwind of fury their landing had created. Jezebel's face was fully healed and once again cruelly beautiful, brown eyes staring out at them with intense battle-hunger. Montana was as imposing as ever, tall and wreathed in white garments, his dark green eyes filled with fire and focused right on Tifa.

He didn't need to say anything. His eyes said it all: _I'm going to kill you._

Tifa swallowed hard and raised her fists.

tbc  
19 April 2007


End file.
